Coyote
by tylee17
Summary: Terminal City is under attack; just another apocalypse story... Or is it? - And who exactly is Coy? ...Max/Alec relationship, already established for a change...
1. One

Disclaimer: right now we're shooting scenes for season four, and well, what you're going to read below simply wouldn't fit in anymore. It's going to be a long season as it is, already… _tries to leave, but is grabbed by some mean looking dudes_… okay, alright. Not true. Not shooting scenes. There won't be a season four_...chuckles nervously... _there never was a season three, right? so… _is nudged by one of the dudes_… okayyy: NO INFRINGEMENT INTENDED - and I'm not going to repeat it every friggin' chapter, so LAY OFF…

A/N: _I borrowed some of Joshua's lines from_ The Berrisford Agenda_ down below, and of course I borrowed Max and Alec, and a couple other familiar faces… Dude, I said BORROWED, alright?_

* * *

**Coyote**

* * *

The day Alec disappeared was the day the tanks came; huge hostile monsters of steel that ran over everything – _anything_ blocking their way, uncompromisingly, mercilessly. The fence went down first, clearing the way for an army of hooded soldiers, dark figures, armed to their teeth, all firing volleys out of their machine guns without asking questions first.

This was enemy territory after all, and this was a war. The time for questions had long passed, the time for negotiations officially ended.

This was the end.

The day Alec disappeared, machines came marching into Terminal City, killing its inhabitants methodically, thoroughly, not accepting surrender.

* * *

When Max opens her eyes she is surprised to see light flood in through the windows because it means she actually slept for a couple of hours. She takes in her surroundings and yawns heartily, then lazily stretches her limbs.

Disentangling herself from the sheets she makes to get up, having decided that she could do with a shower to properly wake her up.

"Morning, sleepy head!" she hears Alec call out from the bathroom before he sticks his towel-turbaned head out the door and winks at her, another towel still draped around his waist.

"Morning yourself. And since when are _you_ the early riser, anyways?" she answers grumpily, trying to shake off the last remnants of sleepiness and frowning at him.

"Aw, Max. Discipline! Is all. Ever heard of it? You should try. As it happens I _do_ know a facility that has developed quite some expertise on the field of teaching it to – uh, willing students… Burned down, I'm afraid, but luckily some of its subsidiaries still survive, and I'm sure –"

"Shut up, Alec!" she grumbles and enters the bathroom, occupying the place at the sink he has just vacated. He moves to kiss her, but she holds up a hand in warning to keep him at a distance. Not now, not before she feels at least a bit more human, a bit more presentable.

"Oh!" her partner exclaims, smirks, then adds appreciatively, "Mouth hygiene. Many underestimate its importance, but quite a few innocent kissers have been reported to have suffered severe traumata caused by the ominous and highly mysterious bad breath phenomenon in the past…" He chuckles at the glare she shoots him and she honestly thinks it should be forbidden to make stupid jokes before – well, at least before she's had any breakfast.

This man… What again has made her move in with him? She raises an eyebrow at her rumpled looking reflection in the mirror and grins when Alec's face comes up behind her again.

"Staring doesn't help much, you know? Better try with the water and soap," he suggests, smiling, and vanishes into the other room, leaving Max to ponder his "advice."

* * *

"This is Kelly Jones, reporting live for KBBW from the site of the attack on Terminal City! I repeat, Terminal City, the nuclear wasteland in the midst of our city annexed by the freaks a couple of months ago, _is_ being attacked by the US military at this very mo–" a tall, dark-haired woman yelled into a camera when all of a sudden she was pushed aside by a bunch of soldiers and found herself and her film crew being circled. Their whole equipment – cameras, microphones, their cell phones – it all was wrenched out of their hands within seconds. Even the earplug connecting her with Frank back at the studio was ripped from her, a young soldier, a kid really, quietly apologizing for the somewhat rough handling.

"Hey!" she started to protest, but was instantly interrupted.

"No filming allowed, Ma'am. Please move over there. – Ma'am." The officer's tone sounded slightly annoyed, and threatening.

"Can you tell me what's going on here, Sir? Why are you attacking Terminal City now? Have those known as transgenics –"

"Ma'am!"

Her cameraman shushed her then, and pulled her close to him, away from the soldiers. She would have wanted him to record all this on tape, the noise, the screams, the yelling, the shooting, the explosions, the crunching, the sounds of war. All this, right in the middle of their city.

Was this really the treatment those creatures deserved, the only possible reaction to their seeking what Kelly couldn't help but call refuge?

* * *

The day Alec disappeared was the day Max, Mole, and Dix decided to give up the idea of staying in TC for much longer. It had finally become clear that the place didn't hold much of a future for them anymore; and instead of turning into a place they might one day call home it had only proved to be another kind of prison altogether, just as Mole had once claimed it would.

Maybe the place wasn't as bad as Manticore, but with the public not willing to accept the transgenics' presence, their mere _existence_, the Xs had mostly been forced to stay within the restricted boundaries of Terminal City for the months following their exposure. Outside, they were considered monsters, hunted down, not only by Seattle's inhabitants now, but by people that had traveled half the country to pursue this strange new enemy, this unusual prey.

White and his men were still around, too.

And those were only the ones they _knew_ to be close on their heels…

The transgenics had been trapped. Again.

Trapped, as Alec was now.

* * *

The day he disappeared was the day Max got shot in the shoulder when she rounded a street corner on her way to Josh. She had wanted to talk to him about leaving TC, had wanted to talk about Alec…

After all, he knew Alec better than anyone else, didn't he? All the "_Alec only outsmarts Alec. He doesn't know himself. Look. Outside, lots of pretty colors. Tricks and treats. Inside, darkness. Confusion. Alec_"-kinda dealio, and somehow Joshua had had him down pat right from the start. How had he known, and why hadn't she?

Also, what made her distance herself from him still? Even now that they had actually both admitted their feelings for each other and reached a whole new level of relationship that she'd never had with anyone else. This was no _not-like-that_ thing she could slip in and out of as she pleased. No, this was definitely different; it was the marvelous, exhilaratingly fun, but also intense, serious, and passionate real thing.

And it scared the hell out of her every fucking day…

* * *

"So, you gonna come with me to Command today, talk things over with Mole and the bunch?" Max asks over breakfast and eyes her partner carefully.

She has noticed how fidgety he has become with each new day spent within the confines of Terminal City, and even though he never says a word, and never will, she knows how gladly he will leave this place. No one has volunteered for supply runs more often than Alec – well, maybe the exception being Max herself, but that doesn't really count. She has to. She is responsible for all of them, they are here because of her, and she has to take care of them as best she can. But Alec? He could do other things to help, could remain in Command with the others and supervise from there, not risk his life nearly every day.

But he hardly enters the building that houses Command these days.

Alec tenses slightly, only for her enhanced vision to notice. "No," he says, looking down on the half-eaten banana in his hand before he takes another bite. "I'm supposed to help Logan put up that new computer stuff we got him the other day." He talks with his mouth full and manages a grin.

She stares at him, unsure of what to say. His carefree attitude is pissing her off, she can't help it. She should try to rein in her rising temper, but he never stopped to have this effect on her, not even now that they are a couple.

A couple; funny how they never call themselves that. Maybe they both feel too awkward using a term like that for describing their relation; it has a strange ring to it. Max sweeps a few stray hairs out of her face and looks across at her partner, pouting.

God, she can't even call him her boyfriend. Awkward. Nor can she call him her boy, although OC simply loves doing it, especially now that Max can no longer object. Not really, anyways. A tepid "Don't call him that" is all she huffs whenever Cindy says the words…

"Can't that wait? You know Logan is perfectly capable of setting up a computer without your help. We, on the other hand…"

"What? You guys need me so badly? I mean, I know it's hard to even get up in the morning without my presence – and I keep wondering how the others are managing it every friggin' day – but, seriously, I don't see how I could be of any help in discussing things rather than doing them, Maxie-Max. Besides, I promised the Log I would…"

"Since when is he your best fucking friend, huh, Alec?" she interrupts him, annoyed by his refusal to accompany her, annoyed by his smirking. She stares at him, hard, sees his features tense even more as the grin leaves his eyes, though it lingers on around his lips. "Whatever you promised him can surely wait till later, no? This 'discussing things' can't. We're trying to decide on the future of TC here, okay? And we need you there, Alec. They all consider you 2IC, have you forgotten what that means? Have you forgotten what being a CO can sometimes feel like? – We need your help in deciding what's best for everyone, we… – _I_ need you to be there, to – support me. Alec…" her voice is faltering by the time she finishes her last sentence.

"We're not in Manticore, Max. Aren't you always telling me that?" He throws the banana peel onto his plate and gets up from his chair in a slow movement. When he glances across at her, there is no trace of a grin left on his face. "And I'm nobody's CO, or 2IC."

"Alec," she tries, now getting up herself and gently grabbing his arm. He doesn't flinch, doesn't move, only stares at her. "Please. I know you want out, and I know… just come with me today, okay? Maybe it's exactly what we'll decide…"

He lets his head droop, closes his eyes for a moment, and sighs before lifting his head again and looking straight at her. She can see her reflection in his beautiful eyes, it is right there with him, tinged black from his pupils, and brown where a thin ring of color bleeds into the predominant green. The image is so defined, so exact, that she can't help but wonder what he sees in _her_ eyes…

And then the smirk is back in place, and whatever was on his mind only seconds before remains unsaid and locked away.

As always.

She won't say a thing, either. No concession to weakness, to her feelings.

They simply aren't like _that_…

"Logan's waiting."

"Yeah, right. Tell him I said hi. I… I better go now, Mole is pretty cranky since Clemente got reassigned and…"

Alec laughs, already grabbing his jacket and rummaging in its pockets. "Why don't you give him these for me, huh? It'll surely cheer him up a bit… well, never mind," he snorts, "At least it'll keep him from snapping at you." With that he hands her a few Cubans, and god only knows where he might have gotten them, probably on one of his risky little stints in town that have caused more than enough fights between them by now, but she is grateful for the offer, because he is right: Mole with a cigar tucked in his mouth is a content Mole, and a content Mole makes for a way better conversational partner.

Not that you could call discussions with Mole conversations…

"See ya, Max," Alec says, suddenly pulling her close to him, breathing into her hair a second longer than he should have if he wants her to believe he's alright. But without being able to admit it verbally, she cherishes the moment, cherishes his closeness, and leans into him.

They disentangle themselves from the embrace soon after, their lips meeting in one quick kiss, then Alec walks away, waving once and smiling before he eventually turns around and walks out the door, his light and casual steps echoing on a while after he has vanished from view.

"Don't get your sorry ass in the line of fire! I'm not always there to hand it back down to ya!" she calls after him and shakes her head. The words resound in her ears hollowly, and a little too disconcertingly.

Why can't they ever say what's bothering them? Why can't they ever…

* * *

The day Alec disappeared Max found herself in the middle of an assault not long after she had run out of their suddenly too stuffy apartment. At first she only heard an unfamiliar roar not far off, and whatever caused that noise was obviously advancing rather quickly.

She could discern different kinds of noises now: the metallic wheezing of big vehicles, the marching trot of feet, of a _lot_ of feet. As soon as she rounded the next street corner, she felt her shoulder being jerked back forcefully, a movement that caused her to lose her balance and sent her falling to the floor almost instantly. She hit her head hard enough that it left her dazed and lying motionless on the ground for a full two minutes, before she eventually managed to pull herself up again. She had only staggered away a few feet when her breakfast suddenly churned up inside of her, compelling her to bend over and vomit so violently that she had to hold on to the nearest wall for support. How disgraceful for a lab-engineered soldier to go down like that, she thought, gasping for air and wiping a hand over her mouth in disgust.

Apparently, Terminal City was being attacked, only minutes after she had watched Alec leave, minutes after she had told him to take care. If not in so many words…

She didn't know what exactly was going on, although she was sure this had to be the long feared attack on TC. She didn't know where all the others were, she was far from Command, and now she had also managed to get shot and to bang her head so badly she could hardly remain standing. Her fall had earned her the first concussion she'd ever had, at least as far as she could remember. Hell, she could deal with a stupid shot wound, but this dizziness? This nausea? That made fighting pretty damn hard. She couldn't even see properly.

Max tried to regain her bearings and forced her eyes to focus. With one hand she lightly touched the delicate spot on her head that was throbbing the most and hissed. When her fingers came away sticky with blood she cursed wordlessly and took a few deep breaths to calm her revolting stomach. Not again, she thought, when she tasted bile and had to bend over once more.

Sweat had erupted on her brow by then and she felt worse than any wound had ever made her feel. At least a shot wound didn't make you feel so embarrassed, so disgraced. Shot wounds were heroic wounds. If wounds could ever be anything other than plain nasty and painful…

When Max's vision finally cleared, she found herself on one of TC's main streets, a troop of dark-clad hooded soldiers not far from her and advancing steadily. She had barely made up her mind to run for it, when out of a narrow passageway a hand grabbed at her and pulled her with it into the shadowed darkness. She tried to fight the stranger, tried to pry her arm out of their grip, when she was shushed urgently and felt another hand go up to her mouth and cover it.

"Sssh, they're close now. You don't want to draw their attention to our presence, now do you?"

It was a man, tall and lean, his thin arms holding more strength than she would have guessed. He looked at her out of dark, nearly black and bottomless eyes that held her gaze, mesmerizing her. Something was not alright.

For one short moment she had given in to the wild and impossible hope that it was Alec grabbing her. But of course that had been a stupid thought. Alec was – she didn't know where he was, whether he was even still alive. Oh, please, no…

Terminal City was finally going down.

* * *

The day Alec disappeared was the day Max first met Coy.


	2. Two

**Coyote: Two**

His hand felt rough against the soft skin of her lips, but something made her refrain from pushing it aside even though she was sure she could take him on if she really tried. Seconds passed, a minute, in which she just stood there, staring into the dark pools of his eyes and waiting for the soldiers to pass them by.

Eventually he released her and she took a step back to scowl at him. He only raised an eyebrow before stooping down and picking up a handgun that had to have fallen to the ground when he had pulled her into the passageway earlier. She took another step back when he handed the thing over to her.

"No," she whispered and was greeted with a disbelieving stare and a mouthed "What?"

"I," she faltered when she saw him pull out a second gun from behind his back. It wasn't that they weren't in a desperate situation; it wasn't that he didn't have another weapon left to protect himself, but still… "I don't do guns," she finally stated, her eyes blank.

She could tell that he wanted to say something; she could practically see his thoughts revolving behind the mirrors of his dark eyes, those disconcertingly black eyes in which the irises and pupils nearly seemed to be one solid mass. But he remained silent, simply put one gun back and held the other in a firm grip, his long fingers circling the metal.

"You better stay with me then. In case you haven't noticed, we're being attacked."

"Oh, thanks for telling me!" she huffed and placed herself in front of him to prevent him from heading out into the street in a rush. She furrowed her brow while scrutinizing him now. She had never seen the guy before, not in all the time since the transgenics' exposure, not since Terminal City had become TERMINAL CITY, all capital letters. "And who are you anyways?" she scoffed.

"Max." He grinned, but it was not a pleasant sight. So he knew _her_. Well, her face had been all over the media, and she was accepted as some sort of leader in TC, so, not surprising, right?

Still, it was just… it felt wrong.

"Let me introduce my humble self: Coy, at your service, Ma'am. – And now, would you be so kind to follow me? I do not feel inclined to get myself shot or tortured today."

God, already the guy annoyed her – and not in an "Alec" sort of way, either... But she was supposed to be grateful because he had basically just saved her life, right? When he turned his back to her she spotted the dark lines of his barcode showing quite visibly underneath his short black hair. She had known he couldn't be one of the familiars, or ordinaries, but she had also known that he was none of the X-series from X4 through X6. Special-Ops guy, then… a battle processor? Psy-Ops? She would have liked to ask him, point blank, but just then bombs could be heard going off close by, and Coy was already running for cover, which left her to swallow an angry retort and do as he had asked her to.

Max was not a follower anymore. Not since Zack, since they had escaped and her unit had spread out into the world. No, she was definitely not a follower. She so wasn't. If Alec ever found out about this, he would never let her live it down. Already, she could see his face split into a wide smirk, could see the smartass comment coming…

Alec.

They were even dropping bombs on Terminal City now...

Their training, their enhanced strength wouldn't help them much against the multiple aggressions.

The terror of what was happening, what might still be going to happen, hit her back, there and then, the hopelessness of their situation nearly rooting her to the spot, immobilized.

Had Alec reached the sewers by the time the bombardment started? Was he safe? Could he ever _be_ safe? And what about the others, the guys at Command, Gem and her baby, Dalton, Joshua…

"Max," Coy urged her forward, grabbing her by the arm for a second and a shot of pain ran up to her shoulder at the touch, the stinging sensation helping clear her mind.

She had more than enough reasons to fight through this. She was responsible for all of TC's inhabitants, she had to try to get as many of them out of this alive as was possible. Starting with Coy, or whatever his name was.

Alec would have to wait for now…

* * *

"Huh, I'm having the odd feeling of a déjà vu here," Alec says conversationally while clinging to the swaying rope that holds him, only inches from Max, who is similarly hanging a few feet above the ground. Of course he is underestimating the importance of their mission as usual; like he could ever once simply do something without chattering away…

"Alec!" His name escapes her as one harsh sound and she doesn't so much as spare him a glance. She reaches the floor a second earlier than he and unhooks herself swiftly.

"Ugh, inconvenient," Alec whispers as he walks up to her side, scanning the room thoroughly with his eyes. She knows what he means right away because she has detected it, too, or rather: them. A pack of mean looking Dobermans lies between them and the much needed equipment. At least the dogs don't seem to have sensed their presence, yet.

"Tell me, Max, why are we doing this again?" her fellow X5 asks without looking at her, the tone of his voice sounding slightly annoyed.

"So that Logan can set up a functioning security system for the sewers, Alec?!" Oh, she sounds even more than _slightly_ annoyed… But really? Why does he have to keep asking stupid questions like this? It won't make things easier.

"Right. Logan." A curt response, non too friendly. Alec averts his eyes, but the fleeting look of – _frustration_ showing on his face doesn't escape Max.

She isn't merely annoyed now, she is pissed. Logan is doing TC a _favor_ by helping them with the warning system. It's not like he didn't have other things to do instead, the whole _Eyes Only _thing, for example, which he got going again and with which Asha was helping him these days… Hell, sometimes she can't help wondering whatever made her fall in love with a guy like Alec in the first place.

"Shit, Alec. He's doing it for us, remember? For you as much as for the whole of TC! I mean, how many times did I have to get your damn ass out of a tight spot just because you ran into some stupid 'freak-haters' on your little town-outings, huh? And when you were _actually_ supposed to be helping us in Command, too. This is nothing to do with Logan. So, stop complaining!"

"Easy, Max. You'll get your pretty brow all wrinkly before time if you continue looking at me like this," he states matter-of-factly and motions her to follow him. Alec, not even now forgetting that he's on a mission, indicates a backdoor he has detected while she was busy accusing him of needlessly nagging.

Well, there's one of the reasons why she loves him…

And his imperturbability; a smirk nearly always in place, her always cheerful, always chattering pain-in-the-ass-partner, who hardly ever gets mad at her for always bitching about what he should and shouldn't do.

They tiptoe to the door, making sure to be as silent as possible so as not to wake the sleeping beasts, and their hands meet on the latch. Alec grins at her just as they both press down on it and a loud creak is heard echoing through the huge room before the door gets stuck midway. Alec studies the small gap that has opened up in front of them and turns toward her.

"Tough luck, huh?" he says and squeezes her through to the next room. For one moment he is still in there with the dogs that are barking dangerously now, and she feels adrenaline rise up inside of her.

Then he is right there with her, managing to close the crack in the wall just in time. They are safe for the moment.

"Aw, Baby. You thought I wouldn't fit through?" He places a hand over his heart in mock hurt, "Haven't you seen how lean and toned this combat-trained body is?"

She huffs, not wanting to reward this stupid comment with a retort, but then…

"Baby?! Call me that again – _ever_ – and I'll kick your ass all the way from here to…"

Alec smirks and turns away from her, transforming back into an unemotional soldier strikingly fast.

* * *

"Max!" Mole.

"Little fella!" Joshua appeared by her side, out of nowhere, it seemed, and Max felt dazed, still, again. She didn't know. She couldn't even remember how she'd gotten here, except for that she'd done so with that stranger, Coy, in tow. He was still holding on to her, steadying her, but when Joshua moved to sweep her up in a rib-crunching embrace he eventually let go of her.

"Little fella, you're alive! You're…" The big fella's voice broke and she felt sobs rise up in his chest. "They're all dead, Max. So many…"

"Joshua," she was irritated by her voice only coming out as a strangled whisper. Her hands, tiny on his arms, grabbed at his shirt, a weak attempt at holding onto something solid. Her confusion was growing with every moment that passed. How had she managed to evade the bullets, the bombs, the carnage out there. Where was out there, where was _here_?

Joshua breathed in audibly when he discovered the blood on her shoulder, in her hair. "Little fella hurt!" he exclaimed, frantically patting his friend down. "Gonna – gonna patch you up again. Max gonna be okay soon," he said, trying to sound reassuring, but she could tell how scared he really was.

"'S okay, Josh, just hit my head. Sucks, but I'll be fine," she whispered, giving in to her inability to speak up, at least managing to adopt a soothing tone. "Put me down, big fella…"

"S- sorry, Max." Joshua took a step back and looked at her, his kind brown eyes full of terror. She was too tired to put the blame on herself for now, too dazed and confused. She glanced over to where Mole was kneeling, patching up a severely wounded fellow transhuman who she knew wouldn't make it. There was so much blood, freely pouring from two raw and open stumps where legs should have been.

Oh god…

Mole looked straight at her, shook his head ever so slightly. Then he called Josh, loud and authoritatively. Thank god for Mole, she couldn't help thinking. He was great in a crisis. "Get our CO some water and make her sit down, will ya? She won't do it if you don't force her. – And you are?" he inquired as soon as his eyes fell on the other new arrival.

"You may call me Coy, and please tell me, what do you call yourself, lizard-man?"

Mole's expression hardened at the stranger's words. "Definitely not lizard-man, moron. The name's Mole."

Max was surprised he had even answered and not simply given the guy one of his infamous wordless growls. Then again, what with the situation at hand, he surely didn't feel much like bearing a grudge on still another transgenic.

Her mind had cleared enough by now for her to recognize her surroundings; they were in the sewers, somewhere. Ironically, the army didn't seem to have found the intricate system of tunnels underneath TC while they had leveled everything above to the ground. She was hardly aware of Joshua trying to dress her wounds as her leader-mode set in again.

"How many of us are down here? Mole?"

"Not sure, yet. We're still counting. But, Max, this is bad. Dix, and Luke…" She had never seen Mole shocked before.

Never.

He was trying to say something else, but apparently unsure of how to phrase it, so she urged him on by calling his name again. "Mole. – What is it?"

"Just wondering whether you might have seen – Princess."

Their gazes locked. The shimmer in their eyes said more than any words ever could; words didn't make it any more real, but nevertheless they didn't dare speak them.

He is not here?

He's not with you?

Has no one seen him?

He can't have survived if he's still out there.

Maybe he made it to Logan's in time, maybe he is somewhere down here.

He must be dead. Another one gone.

"Who in god's name is 'Princess'?" Coy joined in, his dark and clear voice reaching them unexpectedly. They both turned toward him. "You surely don't mean that an actual princess lodged here with you, do you?" he clarified and chuckled. "Didn't think so. Well? It would be very kind of you to answer my question… you know, I wish Manticore had given a little more thought to teaching you some manners," he said condescendingly, and Max's temper rose again. Her savior turned out to be quite a nuisance.

"Oh yeah?" she hissed angrily, pushed Josh's big hands aside and stood up, facing Coy. She stared into those dark pools again and bit down on her lip hard enough for it to hurt, trying her best to swallow all the nasty comments she wanted to hurl at him, recriminations that would be far more than he deserved because they were aimed at another, unknown audience. Seemingly of its own accord, her face took on a sad, devastated look and to her surprise she felt him put a hand on her cheek.

"This is not the end, you know? We'll make it out of this. We always have, huh?" he whispered gently, and stroked her face in a soothing gesture. The touch of skin on skin all the comfort he could offer, enough comfort for her to go on a while longer.

He wasn't so bad after all; annoying – yes, but not a bad guy. If it hadn't been for him, she wouldn't be here now, wouldn't be able to try and get the others out of this, and eventually try and set out to find Alec.

No matter what she would find, she would bring him home…

"Thanks," she muttered uncharacteristically, barely audible, and squeezed Coy's slender hand momentarily. He smiled a small, genuine smile, no trace of condescension or mocking left in his chiseled features.

He didn't ask about Princess again.

When Max turned around once more, Mole had already moved on to the next casualty, as had Joshua, and numerous others. Suddenly she was aware of the agonizing cacophony of whimpers and stifled cries and screams around her. Even now her fellow transgenics were trying their best to remain silent, inconspicuous, trying not to draw attention to themselves and those around them. They were sucking it up in order to protect their own.

She took it all in slowly, the writhing wounded, the blood and bones, the dead and living, those able to stand helping the incapacitated. And all the time more battered looking people flooded into the already overcrowded sewer system, occupying even the tiniest nooks and crannies they could still find.

Terminal City was gone; they were homeless again.

The story was repeating itself.

Last time, Manticore had burned and she had lost Zack.

This time…

* * *

"This is Kelly Jones, reporting live for KBBW from the remains of Terminal City, the _Freak_ _Nation_." Kelly looked exhausted and tired after having spent the last few days on constant stand-by, waiting for the first chance to report on the goings-on in TC. She had wanted to be the first to inform the public about all the gruesome details, had wanted to shock them with the pictures of the burning ruins, of mutilated bodies, the aftermath of a war that had been fought right in their midst.

Without mercy.

Her voice was shaking badly when she spoke into the camera again, her face looking stricken, watering, red-rimmed eyes emphasizing what she was going to disclose now to whoever would listen out there. Her tears hadn't solely been a reaction to the toxins that had been lying embedded in the ground until the tanks and bombs had released them once again. No, that hadn't been the worst…

Only a few hours earlier the army had finally left after their blitzkrieg on TC, and she and her crew had been able to look for survivors among the ruins of the now deathly silent wasteland. Kelly had just discovered the body of a young man lying draped around a baby in a protective posture. He had been dead, his head and torso shot to a bloody pulp, as if he hadn't been the unarmed kid Kelly had seen splayed in the grey dust and debris.

The baby was crying in Kelly's arms now, and she tightened her grip on the small bundle a little. She wasn't sure it was a wise decision to present this innocent little girl to the public, but then, she would be leaving Seattle in a few hours, anyways, would bring the girl to a better place, far from all this.

The baby couldn't grow up among freaks. _Kelly_ couldn't live among freaks…

"What you are seeing here," she continued, one arm gesturing behind her to the smoking remains of the transgenics' refuge…

* * *

When Alec woke up, it took him a minute to get his mind to function; then he tried to move and found that he could.

Slowly, but gradually, he propped himself up, his back resting against a cold and rough wall as he took a few labored breaths, before finally pushing himself up against the wall.

* * *

_more to come... I guess..._


	3. Three

**Coyote: Three**

He walked with his hands feeling their way along the wall, the cold, solid concrete hard underneath his fingers.

No light entered the room – the _cell_ in which he had awoken. There were no windows, not the tiniest crack in the masonry.

But a door.

His fingers paused when they touched a smoother surface, and he followed the frame all the way around until he was sure it really had to be a door.

There was always a way out; where there was an entrance there had to be an exit.

He had nothing but his hands to pry it open for all his pockets had been emptied, his belt and shoes been taken from him a long time ago.

Maybe it hadn't been more than a couple of days.

He didn't notice the wet coldness that clung to him, didn't notice the pain when one after the other his fingernails broke and splintered.

Stolidly, he continued his work, clawing his way out again…

* * *

The sun shone on after the tanks had gone, after the last soldiers had left. It shone on after the news teams had left, after Kelly had taken the baby and disappeared without a trace.

It shone all through the clean-up of the whole devastated grounds, saw the smoke rise from huge pyres of the dead that hadn't been deemed worthy of individual, proper burials.

Of course not.

The sun shone on.

But down in the sewers they couldn't see it, couldn't feel the warmth of its rays on their drawn skin. Down there, it was dark and stayed dark. For the most part, they didn't even dare use artificial lighting for fear of being discovered.

No risks now.

* * *

It took days, weeks, in which they finally managed to get most of the transgenics out of the tunnels again. Weeks, in which Max, Mole, Joshua, and their ordinary friends worked together nearly non-stop in order to patch everyone up as best as they could manage under the circumstances, to provide those who looked at least remotely human with fake IDs and get them across the border to Canada one by one via an elaborate escape system.

The whole escape thing hadn't proved to be as impossible as Max had feared, thanks to Logan and his well-established contacts. With the help of uncounted people that owed him a favor they had gotten most of the Xs out of the sewers before the government even thought of the possibility that more than a handful of transgenics might have survived the massacre and could be heading for the border. By the time they had eventually decided to enforce both the sector patrols and the border controls, it had already been too late.

Sketchy had helped, too, and Cindy. Normal. So many "ordinaries" all across the state had assisted them in their flight in a way that resembled an escape-network of a time long before the Pulse, when a small detail such as the color of one's skin had been enough to threaten one's freedom, and worse.

Normal – Normal, her cranky Jam Pony boss, of all people – had lectured Max on what he explained had been called the _Underground Railroad_, a network of people that had once enabled thousands to escape slavery; in a time far in the past now.

And yet so close.

They had even managed to get the majority of the few surviving transhumans out of the city by now, out of the state, even, if everything was still going according to plan. Only a few remained behind, too traumatized and scared to leave the darkness of the tunnels yet.

Terminal City was no more and Max hadn't dared to count those that had been lost in the days of the assault, the number too gruesomely high.

From somewhere she heard that nerve-racking wail start up again; Gem, crying for her baby.

Still worse than the dead were the missing…

* * *

"Max. If you want this to work you'll have to at least let me keep a _few_ of my own things, okay?" Alec stares at her, no longer amused. The stuff he has dumped on the ground - in basically every room of her little apartment - makes it hard for her to even walk from one corner to the next. She can hardly make it to the door because the whole floor is so crowded with his crap.

This won't work. Not in a hundred years. No. She can't do this. What was she thinking? Cindy had been okay for company, she had been _great_. Max could even imagine how moving in with Logan would have worked out just fine. But with Alec?

"Alec, four TVs?! You've gotta be kidding. No way am I gonna let you set up four fucking TVs in here! – And – and what's _this_?!" she points to a pile of some magazines and tapes that have spilled out of an oversized box she stumbled over a few minutes ago. "Your porn collection?!" She is so exasperated that she doesn't notice the anger that's building up in his expression; she simply stares down into the ominous box, then studies his features angrily.

"Cute, Max. This is Alec you're talking to so of course it has to be porn and the likes, huh? What would you have accused Logan of storing in that box, huh? Some evil computer toys?"

She glares at him, not rewarding his stupid question with an answer.

"I'm just curious, Max…" he says, face set in a stern look, hands shoved deep into his pockets.

– "Listen, I know that I can't bring all my stuff over here, okay? But do _you_ know that some of _your_ things will have to go as well? Huh? How else is this gonna work. You can't expect me to move in with you if you don't make at least a minimum of room for my tstuff… we both have to make a few concessions if this is supposed to work, Maxie…"

His voice sounds gentle now, almost tired, and just as she is about to give in, searching his eyes in the hope of finding that unique Alec-like flicker rekindled again, her doorbell rings and she whirls around, knowing who this'll be.

"Um, bad timing?" Logan asks, standing in the doorframe, looking past Max into the room, and nodding once at the other X5.

"No!" she exclaims, unconvincingly, the fact that Alec simultaneously mutters an audible "Yes" not really helping to ease the suddenly tense atmosphere.

"Maybe I'd better come back later, then," Logan says, eyeing her worriedly, his brow furrowed in sincere concern. She knows he still likes her.

She flinches at the thought. Things aren't easy between her and him and Alec…

"Yeah, maybe you should, buddy," Alec agrees, but Max shoots him a glare and turns to her friend again.

"No. Logan, we were… done here. For now. _Right_, Alec?"

"Yeah, whatever," Alec manages to say through gritted teeth and walks past her and Logan, swiftly sidestepping the boxes on the ground, his hands still in his pockets. She can tell how tense he is, how angry, and she feels the urge to apologize well up inside her. But she can't, not now, not with Logan here for audience.

Sorry is a big word.

"You leaving, Alec?" the ordinary addresses the other man, stopping Alec in his tracks.

"Looks like it, doesn't it?" he answers, smirking, "Why, you need my company, having a little chit-chat with Maxie here and scared she might just bite your head off?"

Logan looks as if he is actually considering it and for one crazy moment Max doesn't know whose head to bite off first, his, or Alec's… Instead of admitting as much, though, her features simply lapse into a tell-tale huff.

Logan produces a strained chuckle before clearing his throat embarrassedly and refocusing his gaze on Max. "Actually, I wanted to ask you two," staring from one transgenic to the other, he changes his mind again, their tenseness emanating so strongly that he must fear to be caught in a real fight any second now. "Uh, you know, sorry for… seemingly having stepped into something here just now, I really do think I should come back another time…"

"No, Logan, wait. This…" she can't put it into words, their first argument? No, definitely not the first, they are always arguing, it's what they do, right? It's… nothing. – It's the first argument they were having as a … – as _partners_, though.

Awkward.

"It can wait. – So, why are you here?" she tries for a casual tone and succeeds, to her own surprise. She can feel Alec's eyes on her but doesn't dare look.

"The thing you asked me to do for you?"

"The alarm?"

"Yup."

"Yeah, what about it? Do you think you could get it to work?"

The silent but continuous whirr of his exoskeleton is a strangely soothing sound filling her ears before the ordinary speaks up again.

"I think so, yes. But I'd need a couple of other components if the thing is supposed to keep such a large area under constant surveillance. A very powerful processor among other things…"

"So let's go find you one, huh?"

"Actually, finding it is not the problem. Getting it is…" Logan mutters.

* * *

Alec's fingers were bleeding, the delicate tips no more than raw flesh, but he paid no heed to it. He had finally succeeded in getting the door to open, his strong will to live having helped him to bear whatever pain it had caused him.

He was standing in a long and empty hallway now, the open door a gaping hole behind him, and instinct told him to run; so he ran, his bare feet beating the cold tiles on the ground, his breath sounding ever more ragged with each new step.

Ignore the pain, find the exit.

Find Max.

* * *

Max stood in front of her makeshift desk, papers, maps, pictures all strewn across the surface, as she tried to figure out how to get the last transgenics out of the States now that all borders were closed.

"Maybe if we get them down to California first, and from there to the Mex-"

"No," Max cut Coy short, "too dangerous. Any other suggestions? Mole?"

The transhuman merely shrugged, exhaustion showing on his face, the pale tone of his reptilian skin a tell-tale reminder of his need to be in the sun and in the warmth up there again…

Same with Coy, Max thought, the guy had turned as sullen as the rest of them in the past days, the last remnants of his old irksome sense of humor having left along with the healthy look of his tanned skin. She would have loved to be annoyed by him again…

She would have embraced any kind of feeling for him. But there was only indifference.

"But, Max," he tried again now, walking closer to the desk and putting both hands down on it, his long fingers splayed across one of the maps. "Look, an escape via Canada is out of the question if I am not mistaken. At least for the near future. And I am not of the opinion that the rest of us down here could possibly remain undetected for much longer. Besides, these creatures need nature's comfort in order to heal, they cannot stay below ground forever."

"Dude, stop talking like a fucking poem, alright?" Mole muttered, sounding slightly irritated, a flicker of his old self surfacing through his general stupor.

Never give up hope, Max ordered herself, not listening to her friends talk.

But it was so hard not to.

She didn't even hear Coy utter an indignant "I beg your pardon," nor see Mole's wordless stare, or Joshua's attempt at hiding his face behind the long dirty strands of his hair. Her mind was elsewhere, seeking refuge in itself, though there was none to be found.

Without knowing Alec's fate…

If she could at least be sure, if she could bury him, maybe…

"Max?" Coy asked, his voice sad and worried, and by the look he gave her she could tell that he'd already called her name more than once. She couldn't help staring at him, at all of them, eyes blank, mind numb. She couldn't be the strong one all the time.

It was so hard.

Suddenly she felt the gentle pressure of someone's hand on her shoulder and looked up, her eyes unseeing for a moment before she noticed Logan. His face so familiar, the lines on his forehead, the tiny wrinkles around his eyes, the glow of a single lamp multiplied in the lenses of his glasses, and still his presence was no longer enough to make her go on, no longer as comforting as it had once been.

Indifference.

"Maybe Coy is right, Max," he said, even now adopting his trademark all-sensible-Logan tone, and she stared past him to the dark-haired transgenic who stood there, a few inches from her, fidgeting nervously.

"Look at the big fella," the ordinary whispered softly, his breath tingling her ear as he leaned toward her, "Look at Mole, Gem, Coy… they won't make it much longer if…"

"And what about the casualties, Logan? We can't possibly leave them here to fend for themselves. Some of them can't even eat and drink without help, some…" she could't bring herself to say that most of the wounded still trapped in the sewers wouldn't make it anyways. Those with a chance of survival had long left, supported by their fellows. Only the hopeless cases had been left here; to die…

They were Manticore after all, and this was just what they had learned to do, to follow Darwin's rule… It was the wise thing to do.

It was atrocious.

And it proved impossible for Max to comply with it silently.

"What about…" she began heatedly, for once no longer indifferent, and whirled around to face Logan. "What about all of them. Are we just going to leave them behind like –"

An iron fist suddenly clenched her heart, squeezing it till her eyes started to water.

"Little fella?" she heard Joshua exclaim worriedly from far off, miles away.

Her breaths following each other short and raggedly, she pushed Logan's hands away absentmindedly and set out toward what her tired mind had surely only conjured up in the darkness of the tunnel.

It couldn't be…

"Max?"

* * *

He hadn't thought of finding her here, in the sewers of all places. But then, he hadn't even thought he'd ever see her again.

Not after he had seen Terminal City from afar…

The irrational thought of Logan not having been able to complete the alarm system for the sewers kept repeating itself in his tired mind.

She was down here, unprotected, _anyone_ could enter the tunnels and hurt her…

Anyone.

* * *

"So," Alec sits down on her desk, ignoring the fact that Max is busy trying to work out the duty roster for the coming week. She glares at him, but doesn't say a word.

"You and Logan…"

Okay. Not this. He knows that Max had only talked to the man the day before, had had THE talk with him. Alec _knows_… How dare he ask her about it? Now. Here of all places, in Command, where any second Mole, or Dix, or Luke, or – hell, _anyone_ could show up and listen in on their conversation.

And as if she'd tell him…

Her glare takes on an even icier nuance. "Don't, Alec."

"Aw, Max. Don't tell me you guys broke out in tears over a relationship that's been dead for more than going on six months now? I mean, seriously."

"Alec," she hisses, but he doesn't even listen, goes on as if she hasn't said anything. Getting up from the desk again he turns around and studies her, smirk plastered onto his face. He touches his shoulder in a subconscious move, right where the bullet had hit him months ago. She raises an eyebrow and tilts her head.

"Asha's the new Max in Logan's life, isn't she? Don't tell me you haven't noticed as much, I know you have. She's so deep into his _Eyes Only_ stuff it's not even fun to hang with her anymore…"

"_To hang with her_?" Max repeats, a little thrown off by her fellow X5's words. She even forgets that he's actually trying to talk about her and Logan. "You hang with Asha?" Her voice sounds annoyingly jealous to her own ears.

Max and Alec have both danced around each other for the last couple of weeks, she is sure that there is _something_ between them, has seen it in his eyes, in his movements, his reaction toward her, and now he is telling her he hangs with _Asha_?

What the fuck.

"When exactly do you have the chance to hang with her, huh? I haven't seen her anywhere near TC in – weeks!" she huffs, not daring to look at him and thus revealing how pathetic she feels.

Therefore she doesn't see his smile widening, doesn't see him come closer, although she senses his movements, knows that he's walking up to her desk again.

"I meet her in town every once in a while," he says, the fact that he's answering her question quite telling in itself, although neither of them seems to be aware of it, "Whenever I get the chance to leave this shithole so affectionately termed 'Freak Nation' by the loving public..."

"Yeah, and in the process leaving me to save your stupid ass. Right," she mutters, eventually lifting her head when he has edged so close she can actually feel the warmth emanating from his body.

"Aw, Max. You worried?" he whispers, his lips nearly brushing against hers now.

Logan long forgotten.

"Like I'd ever!" she says, staring hard into the deep green seas of his eyes, looking back at her reflection, at the little excited and contented image of herself, seeing past it, getting lost when he moves still a little closer and lips touch lips, first tenderly, than passionately…

* * *

Alec stood in front of her, rigidly, arms slack at his sides, eyes vacant, and his bleeding fingers caught Max's attention.

Alec.

She thought she called his name aloud, but no sound escaped her constricted throat as she lightly put a hand on his cheek and saw him flinch.

Alec…

He was real, he was alive.

He was with her.

Distantly she heard the others gasp, heard Joshua run to meet his friend.

And then: strangled cries, and the noise of high voltage entering living flesh. Tasers.

"452, what a happy little reunion."

White.

No.

"Sorry to interrupt your little get-together here, but I don't have time for this. Otto." White nodded at the other man, who was leveling his gun at the other transgenics, before White himself aimed his own weapon at Max. "Of course you survived the government's pathetic attempt at getting rid of your kind. But I'm not as stupid, 452. Say goodbye to your friends now," the familiar said and grinned at her just as she was desperately trying to shove a resisting Alec behind her back.

Gunshots exploded in her ears, the sound echoing on endlessly in the tunnels as she saw White unbolt his gun, too, imagined seeing the actual bullet leave the barrel.

Alec was still standing right in front of her.

No, she thought, no, not this, not now…

Suddenly Alec was thrown right into her, blood pouring from his head and she could only hold him, hold him, and stare, see Mole and Joshua lying motionless, see Coy grab a weapon from someone and shoot White, see the bleeding Logan help him in finally managing to kill the other familiars too.

And she could only stare ahead, Alec heavy in her arms…

… as numbness spread within her.

* * *

"No. No no no no no," Coy mutters, "This is not what was supposed to happen, it's…" He kneels down, facing Max, facing her dead companion whose unseeing eyes are already clouding over.

"I can change it, Max, I'll… it was not supposed to be like this. I knew about the attack, I thought… what with him gone, too, you might eventually see me, learn to love me, it was all planned. – I knew he would disappear, it fit so well with the plan, it… –" Coy puts a hand through his hair repeatedly, frantically, then stretches it out toward Max, afraid to actually touch her.

"He was not supposed to die. You weren't supposed to be so devastated after the city had gone down, I don't understand…"

She stares at him blankly, uncomprehendingly; she doesn't want to listen to him anymore. She wants to die.

She has always clung to her life desperately, but now she wants it to end…

"I'll make it better, Max, I promise, it'll all be good again…" Coy mutters on, the darkness in his eyes swallowing her up.

"Don't you worry…"

* * *

When Max opens her eyes she is surprised to see light flood in through the windows because it means she actually slept for a couple of hours. She takes in her surroundings and yawns heartily, then lazily stretches her limbs.

Disentangling herself from the sheets she makes to get up, having decided that she could do with a shower to properly wake her up.

"Morning, sleepy head!" she hears Alec call out from the bathroom before he sticks his towel-turbaned head out the door and winks at her, another towel still draped around his waist…

Wait. Max's thoughts start to jumble.

… What?!

* * *

_Finished reading and still with me? Kudos to you! (:_

_Still not done yet…_


	4. Four

**Coyote: Four**

_I'm positively impressed by you for still sticking with this little story here as it IS kinda confusing and, well... (:_

* * *

Max's features crease in a slight frown as she watches Alec disappear into the bathroom again.

Alec, disappearing…

Her frown deepens as she wonders why she feels so uneasy thinking his name and a verb like "disappear" in one and the same context. Too much sleep; must be.

"Morning yourself. And since when are _you_ the early riser, anyways?" she answers grumpily, trying for casualness, and experiences a sudden déjà vu. Has she said those words to him before? But she has never slept longer than him – not ever since they share an apartment, so why should she have called him an early riser?

"Aw, Max. Discipline! Is all. Ever heard of it? You should try. As it happens I _do_ know a facility that has developed quite some expertise on the field of teaching it to – uh,"

"Yeah, 'willing students,' I know; we already had that, Alec, so will you just shut it?" she interrupts him while entering the bathroom and doesn't see the other one stare at her somewhat disbelievingly.

"Whoa, Maxie, you turning all psychic on me now? How the hell did you know I was gonna _say_ that, huh?"

Max, who has taken up the place in front of the sink that Alec has just vacated, shoots him a glare. "Oh, come on! Don't you always be so disgustingly funny in the mornings, okay? All this 'Burned down, but luckily some of its subsidiaries still survive'-kinda crap ring a bell? Huh?" she queries, not even looking at him any longer as she tries to splash some life and energy back into her face with the cold water the tap offers. Why does she feel like she's been through a lot of crap the last couple of days instead of merely a whole workload of monotonous and boring administrative stuff in Command?

Alec, who has been moving closer to her, stops in his tracks and furrows his brow, taking her in from a distance. "Are you okay?" he asks her, sounding genuinely concerned, and when Max turns to look at him, she sees him standing there, now wearing pants but still no shirt, his hair slightly ruffled from the toweling…

… and an unaccountable mixture of fear and relief washes over her, renders her speechless, and makes her do something absolutely out of character: she blurs forward and basically flings her arms around his neck, holding on for dear life, breathing in his scent hungrily.

Eventually Alec manages to gently push her away a little, and she hardly dares to look up into his face. "Alright. So _that_ was surprising. Any chance of you telling me what that was for? – Although of course I know my being the most intelligent, and skilled, and handsome, and lovable –"

"You wish!" Max exclaims, trying out her voice. Inhaling deeply, she lifts her head again and stares at him unblinkingly. Don't give anything away, she orders herself.

But why? Isn't that why you have a boyf- partner? So that you have someone you can confide in, someone with whom you can share _everything_?

God, what is the matter with her today? Why did she just do that? It's not like she is in any immediate danger of losing Alec, although he still _has_ this tendency to get himself into trouble more than once a week. But a desperate embrace in the morning is definitely not her usual reaction to his careless attitude toward the outside world.

It would only encourage him further…

"Max?" Alec tilts his head, and eyes her warily, his light tone not quite masking his apparent concern.

She keeps the slight distance between them and mutters a hardly audible "I am sorry."

"Come again?"

She shoves him away now, pouts at seeing him grin wickedly. Yeah, she can already see him telling everyone about Max having said the three magic words at last.

He stretches out his arms in a gesture of mock surrender and moves to kiss her, but she holds up a hand warningly to keep him at a distance. Not now, not before she feels at least a bit more human, a bit more presentable.

"Oh!" her partner exclaims, smirk widening, then adds appreciatively, "Mouth hygiene. Many underestimate its importance, but quite a few innocent kissers have been reported to have suffered severe traumas caused by the ominous and highly mysterious bad breath phenomenon in the past…" He chuckles, but the sound dies on his lips as he discovers the expression of shock etched onto her face. He puts one hand to her cheek, his thumb caressing the soft skin closest to her eye, and he must feel her lashes brush against it as she closes both her eyes now and leans into him once more.

"I'm sorry, Max, I wasn't," he is already apologizing and she can't help but smile. He doesn't even know what's wrong with her but assumes it all must be his fault, somehow.

"I know." She grabs his arm still a little harder. He'll think she's lost it, he'll think she is a head case just like her brother.

His twin.

And it'll make him detest her…

"Max. Whatever it is, I'm here, you know that, don't you? I'm always here. You can tell me anything."

At that she looks up at him again, her face still pressed against his chest, and their gazes lock.

"You'll think I've… gone off the deep end or…"

"I won't – well, you already _have_, kinda, right? So don't worry about that, I was in the know when we, you know…"

His attempt at putting their relationship dealio into words actually makes her forget to be mad at what he said at the beginning of his sentence, so she merely utters a weak "Yeah."

Another awkward moment.

Damn, they were like kids, really. So insecure, so…

She should better say it now, or she never will.

"It's just… I know this will sound horribly stupid, but: you've said that before."

"Aw, you know me, Maxie, can't ever seem to hold my tongue, it's in the genes I guess. So of course I'm kinda prone to repeat one or the other thing eventually, right? I mean, especially considering that some of my sentences are truly inspira–"

"No, Alec," she cuts him short. This is not the time for light banter; he can't always try to seek comfort in empty words. Some things simply have to be faced, and when she stares hard at him now she can see that he knows this is one of those moments, and she just barely hears his repressed sigh. "I heard you say the _exact_ same words before, like I heard you say that stuff about Manticore teaching, you know, discipline to willing students and…" god, this is so hard, she doesn't even want to bring it all out into the open, she wants to lock it deep inside herself, never to think about it again. "When you did, I… at first I only thought it was a weird kind of déjà vu, whatever, but then I got that awful feeling something bad has happened – will happen… I don't know. – God, I know this sounds like I lost it. Manticore seems to have come up with just another 'nomaly instead of the big deal they and the conclave think X5-452 is."

At that Alec actually whispers her name reproachfully, as he has never heard Max call herself by her designation, not when speaking to him, not even when she tries to differentiate between what she _is_ and what some institution or creepy cult see in her. She knows that he doesn't like to hear her use it now… What she doesn't know, though, is that her insistence on being called by her name, being treated like the human being she is, has always helped him in keeping up the belief that one day he might simply think of himself as a real human being, too…

Her expression softens as she sees his worried frown increase, and she even manages a small smile.

"See, I told you you'd think I lost it…"

"Max…"

"It's just, it feels so real, I honestly thought I had lost you – or that I will, it was…" her throat constricts painfully, preventing her from finishing her sentence, and she feels stupid tears well up in her already bright eyes. Damn. Now she's really giving him a cause for some smart-aleck remark, or…

He tightens his arms around her, kisses the top of her head, a light touch, and mumbles, "I'm here, Max, you won't lose me, okay?"

He sounds so sincere, so convinced of the truth of his words. Why, then, is it so hard for her to believe him?

She wants to, she really does…

* * *

"Sssh, they're close now. You don't want to draw their attention to our presence, now do you?" she heard the stranger whisper urgently. She stared at him wide-eyed, a tall and lean man, his thin arms holding more strength than she would have guessed. He looked at her out of dark, nearly black and bottomless eyes that easily held her gaze.

She had been on her way to Joshua, to talk to him about their plan of abandoning Terminal City, to talk to him about Alec – stupid, difficult Alec – when she had heard tanks roll into TC, had heard an uncountable number of soldiers enter the transgenics' refuge right afterward, and shots. Innumerable shots. One of those had pierced her shoulder, and she had hit her head hard enough to have suffered what could only be a concussion as she had puked out her soul on the pavement only a short while ago. And now she stood in this passageway with a transgenic she had never seen in Terminal City before.

For one short moment she had given in to the wild and impossible hope that it had been Alec grabbing her. But of course it had been a stupid thought. Alec was – she didn't know where he was, whether he was even still alive. Had he made it to Logan's before the attack started? Was he sitting at their friend's house now, ignorant of what was happening out here, happily chatting with Logan while helping him to set up the surveillance system?

They wouldn't need that system anymore.

Or had he still been on the way to the sewers because something had held him up? Dalton, maybe, offering Alec to help with his supply run scheduled for the next day?

She hadn't told him how much she loved him often enough, the words always having tasted strangely threatening on her tongue. But now she wished she had at least said them today, and she smiled sadly, knowing that regret was a useless emotion.

"See ya, Max," had been his last words this morning. A promise.

The longer she stared into the dark depths of the stranger's eyes the more she felt mesmerized by what she saw, and she had to shake her already hurting head to finally be able to look away.

Something was not alright.

Terminal City was finally going down.

* * *

Their tiny kitchen is not the most inviting room at the best of times, but now that the sun is shining it becomes even more obvious that this place has seen its best days way before the Pulse. The plaster is basically raining down on them in a constant drizzle of dust, making eating anything without at least a bit of added "flavor" nearly impossible.

But this is the least of Max's worries at the moment. There's her disturbed brain to worry about, and the concern in Alec's eyes, and there's Terminal City's future to be decided today, and all she knows is that she simply can't face talking to the others in Command without Alec accompanying her.

He will not come. It's as clear as can be, she only has to think of the few occasions he has actually been in Command in the last couple of weeks. Five times maybe? Six? Not enough for the role he plays in all this, not enough for what most of the transgenics see in him.

Still, he doesn't see himself that way, thinks of himself as a soldier at best, as one helping here and there, fighting when necessary, protecting his fellow Xs, and always managing to squeeze at least three supply runs or other missions for TC in every week. But when it comes to the future of TC he never volunteers to speak. It has taken Max a while to figure out the reason, although it should have been so simple.

He hates it here, hates being caged in again, hates the reminder of what he and everyone else have been through in the past. To him TC is just another prison, maybe not as bad as Manticore, though not much better either.

He only stays on because of her.

No, he will not come. Not even if she tries to cozen him with the more than probable outcome of the meeting.

"So, I guess you're not coming to Command with me today, to talk things over with Mole and the bunch?" she asks over breakfast and eyes her partner carefully. She hasn't eaten much of her cereals, and what with milk being such a rare treat, the bit she has shoved into her mouth had felt like eating little cardboard flakes that had glued onto her palate almost instantly.

Max grimaces, decides to follow Alec's example instead of giving the flakes another try and gets up to go and get herself a banana. From behind her back she feels him turn toward her and say, "Why wouldn't I? I thought you guys were all set on finally doing the smart thing and decide to leave this place? Wouldn't wanna miss _that_." He grins at her, widely, but she can see through the falseness of it; by now she has become quite an expert and can distinguish his real smiles from the fake ones almost every time.

And this one is only for show, surely supposed to accomplish more than just play down the proportions of his issues with TC. _Max_ has worried him.

"Don't want me to come, huh? Are you afraid you won't get a word in once I got started?" he chuckles lightly, nudging her side when she passes his chair before sitting down opposite him once again. Not before she has slapped his head with as much force as to make him rub the spot and scowl at her, though. "Ow, what was that for?"

She merely glares at him, but deep inside she is too grateful to say much now. He will be right by her side for the next hours, right in her field of vision, thus ensuring that she can have an eye out for his safety a little while longer.

"Um," Alec makes, putting the banana peel down on his plate and rummaging for something in his bags. Finally he holds up a few Cubans in one fist. "It'll be the perfect occasion for me to give those to the old lizard, and once I've done _that_…" he raises an eyebrow suggestively, a genuine smirk spreading across his face.

"Spare me! Please!" Max rolls her eyes, "He'll be forced to support whatever you say, is that what you're thinking in your wacky little brain?"

"No reason to get so offensive, Maxie. That hurts."

"Uh huh…" She tries for a change of topic before the banter gets out of hand and they'll land themselves right where the day started: in bed. "Better call your buddy Logan, though, tell him you won't be able to help him with the computer stuff, yet, else the poor guy'll worry his head off."

"How'd you know I was going to help Logan this morning?"

* * *

Alec was on his way to the entrance into the sewers, glad that not too many people were up and about at this early hour of the day. He didn't really feel like talking much, not after the conversation he'd had with Max back at the apartment.

The day had started out so promising, what with the sun shining after weeks and weeks of bleak looking gray skies and the usual amount of Seattle rain pouring down on the city more than was strictly tolerable. Looking out and encountering a blue sky had already been worth waking up so damn early, but with the warming rays of the good old sun on top of everything, the day could have just been great.

Except Max had to bring up TC and Command again, and what people were _expecting_ of him. Yeah, right. Had they forgotten that apart from having been considered one of their best by Manticore he had also been one of their greatest fuck-ups? With more than your usual amount of stints spent in Psy-Ops and the likes.

Screw all that! He wasn't going to help them _discuss_ what to him – and Mole – had always been more than obvious. This shithole was no place to live, and in no way should any of them feel grateful for the frigging public's "generosity" to _let_ them stay within the confines of a fenced-off nuclear wasteland where the ordinaries themselves were not fit to spend more than a couple of days without harming their lives.

Like he'd ever thank _them_ for anything.

"Excuse me?" he heard someone call out to him right then and was jolted out of his thoughts. He turned around to face a somewhat strange and dark looking dude and frowned. No morning passed without at least one fellow transgenic approaching him to ask for his help in this or that, or simply to ask about whether Max had told him anything about the progress her talks with the new government negotiator were making.

"Yeah?" he therefore only said, waiting for the other one to ask whatever question was on his mind.

"I was merely wondering whether it could be true that you are already on your way to help our dear and trusted friend Logan set up the equipment for the new warning system?"

Alec raised an eyebrow. Now that guy apparently needed a few private lessons in Common Verbal Usage. Besides, his weird little question made Alec feel strangely uneasy all of a sudden. But as there was no indication that the stranger was anything other than a harmless, scrawny creature, Alec saw no reason for not answering him.

He was one of them after all, suffering the same crap they all had to suffer.

"Yup, got me there. – So, um –"

"Coy," the man offered and stretched out one long-fingered hand that the other felt obliged to shake.

"Well, Coy. Nice meeting you and all, but we don't wanna keep our 'dear and trusted' Logan waiting for too long, right? So I better be off. See ya," he said and patted the man's shoulder lightly. 'Hopefully not too soon,' he then added inwardly and rolled his eyes. Weird guy.

"Uh," Coy made and grabbed Alec by one arm, making him flinch.

"What?" he shot out and barely managed to keep himself from jumping at the other man, trying for a more casual stance instead. Sheesh, Alec, stress level's too frigging high, it seems, he told himself and grinned at this guy, Coy.

Seemingly the man hadn't noticed anything off about Alec's rash reaction, or maybe he was only doing the decent thing and ignored it.

"I know I should not ask you this as I do not wish to strain your patience more than necessary, but it would be an honor if I could accompany you into the sewers as I myself have some urgent business to attend to in the town."

"Uh huh. – Which would be what?"

"Oh, I am sure you will understand it when I say it is an errant I have volunteered to run for our most respected Max."

The guy's black and shining eyes had taken on such a sincere look at the words that Alec couldn't help a laugh escaping his mouth and he clapped Coy on his back understandingly.

"Yeah, sure!" he said, starting to walk again. "Our most respected Max…" he chuckled on.

Might prove interesting to get this strange fella to talk a little more.

It wasn't far to the first tunnel entrance and in less than five minutes they had managed to climb down into the hole and were swallowed by darkness almost immediately. When he was the only one to produce a torch Alec got a weird feeling all over again, though, and he started to closely observe his companion's every move from then on. He couldn't really explain it, or put it down to anything other than the guy not bringing a torch; it was just…

… something was not alright.

When they eventually reached the place where the sewers led out right onto the street in front of Logan's place, Alec made to say good bye to Coy and started to climb up, repeatedly looking behind him, his hearing tuned to whatever sound there could be.

What? Was he expecting the man to attack him shortly? What was the matter with him? He honestly should cut down on all the missions and runs that ended in confrontations with the freaks out there way too often these days, or he might really start to suffer from some serious case of paranoia soon.

But no sooner had he reached the last rung of stairs and had to use both hands to lift the heavy cover off the manhole, did he suddenly feel something heavy come down on the side of his head, and all went black.

* * *

When Max and Alec eventually enter Command, the others seem to be more than ready for the serious discussion to begin, and Max sighs in anticipation of the heated argument this is surely going to develop into, sooner rather than later.

"If this isn't Princess!" Mole calls out, voice sounding grumpy as usual, but Alec only grins.

"What did I tell you about calling me that, _Lizard_?!" he asks, mock threat resonating in his tone, just as he shows the transhuman what he brought along, waving the Cubans seductively right in front of the man's face.

Mole takes in an audible breath and stares at Alec. To any bystander the look on his face might have been more than enough to make them run, but Alec knows better. – Although he _also_ knows that it is going to hurt like hell when the guy brings his big hand down on Alec's shoulder any second now.

Max can't repress a laugh, although she shouldn't encourage them any further by laughing about their stupid child's play.

Right when Alec hands the cigars over to his friend, Coy steps up behind Mole and smiles at Alec lightly.

Alec backs away as if in shock and stares from him to Mole, to Max.

"What is he doing here?" he eventually manages to get out between tightly clenched teeth, jaw muscles moving, as he backs away further and further until Max, who has started to walk toward him, finally reaches him and grabs one icy cold hand in hers, the warmth refusing to pass from her to him.

"Alec?" she whispers; and now it is her turn to look at him worriedly.

The others look to Max for a clue as to what might be happening here, but she doesn't know either.

"What is it, Baby?" she wonders, not even aware of any source of awkwardness in her choice of address. "This is only Coy, Alec. You know him." She furrows her brow so much it starts to hurt, but all she can think of is this look of utter shock and horror in Alec's eyes. "You know Coy..."

"Look at me, please. Alec, please?"

And when he does, she sees herself, and behind that, nothing.

A flicker of pain; a sea of the unspeakable.

His eyes have filled with tears.

* * *

_You managed to read another chapter? Wow! (:_

_Still more to come..._


	5. Five

**Coyote: Five**

_Okay, so I guess where other people have their muses, I have a weird little gnome feeding my imagination…_

* * *

The tears never leave Alec's eyes, but Max sees them linger nevertheless. She positions herself right in front of him, in doing so shielding him from the inquisitive stares of their friends.

He would hate himself later if they saw him close to cracking now. She knows Alec…

"Be right back!" she shouts over her shoulder and starts shoving Alec to the door, she needs to get him out of Command asap, or he might blur and kill Coy any second now, whatever his issues with the other transgenic might be. If Alec gets this upset, it sure as hell must be something really bad.

She is glad that he doesn't fight her, lets her turn him around unresistingly, and lead him out into the open again, back into the brightness of the day. It _had_ felt wrong when he said he would love to accompany her to the meeting today, but Max had put it down to the fact that Alec was only being his usual self again, only coming for her sake, to keep an eye on her as her behavior this morning surely freaked him out more than he let on.

Although this doesn't exactly feel like the horrible sense of foreboding she felt earlier, it still qualifies as a bad, bad twist to the day, and she grimaces uneasily before facing Alec again.

They are standing a few feet away from the building, shielded by one of Terminal City's various shacks, and Max scrutinizes the living mystery in front of her, her boyfriend.

Now there, she _can_ think it without instantly dying of heart failure. And it only took him to practically be close to breaking point for her to realize it. If that isn't what is so frequently labeled progress…

He stands there, his body ramrod straight and rigid, hands balled up in fists, white knuckles painfully prominent. His head is turned away from her, and his breathing sounds worryingly accelerated. Not good. Max dares to place both hands close to his neck, right where she can feel his collarbones attempting to meet underneath his skin. He doesn't push her away, simply stares at her for a second.

"Alec," she calls his name now, and as if on cue, she can see him metamorphose back into the well-trained, genetically engineered soldier that is always lurking underneath his façade, nearly all the time in control of his emotions. He tries out a still slightly unsure smirk, not quite convincing.

She knows this one better than any other smirk as it is one of his favorites…

"Sorry about that," he mutters, not sounding as casual as he was probably hoping for, and she feels the urge to slap him for once again trying this on her, trying to play it all down.

"No need to," she therefore tells him, not breaking contact even though he starts fidgeting underneath her fingers. "Alec. What was all that about, huh? Are you going to explain to me what happened between you and Coy?"

She waits for him to answer, while he runs a hand through his hair, the gesture giving away his inner tautness.

"It was nothing, really, let's just –" He chuckles doubtfully and finally fully faces her, "Too many encounters with freaky little ordinaries the last couple of days, I guess, I'm apparently getting a little paranoid or something. – I better listen to you from time to time, huh, and cut down on those missions?"

"Alec. This was nothing to do with paranoia. You didn't seem to remember Coy as the guy he is. You saw someone totally different, I could see it in your eyes, in your whole being."

"In my '_being_,' Maxie? That's cute, you're sounding just like one of those –" He cut himself short right there, leaving her to wonder whether he had been thinking of something as harmless as a poet, an ordinary shrink, or some heavier stuff. Psy-Ops, Reindoctrination. The latter options, unfortunately, seem to be the much more plausible reasons for him to leave the sentence hanging…

"You know what? I shouldn't have come here; just you go back in and tell them I… I got this horrible headache or whatever, just tell them I had to go. Please," he adds, his voice void of the previous mocking tone, and he stares at her pleadingly.

Max shakes her head in frustration, but of course she won't make him go back in with her again. It's probably better this way, anyways.

But why can't he just once tell her what's going on in this stubborn head of his? She is making an effort sharing even the most ridiculous things today, things she'd have never thought of disclosing to anyone – well maybe Original Cindy, if she was in a really desperate mood – and he still refuses to do the same. That simply isn't right. She lets him off the hook for now, because she really needs to get this discussion over with soon, but he will definitely have to open up to her later.

Paranoia. Yeah, sure…

With a deep sigh she removes her hands and crosses her arms in front of her in a slightly defensive gesture. This is so not good. She won't be able to keep an eye on him now, won't be able to make sure she won't lose him…

She scolds herself for getting lost in those stupid thoughts again, for getting afraid without reason. Absurd. This is no suitable behavior for someone being in charge of a whole city…

She breathes in deeply once to clear her head again, then says:

"Okay. But don't go anywhere, alright? When I'm done here, we gotta talk about this," she orders, and he grimaces before a small smile returns to his face.

She doesn't know this one…

* * *

On the day tanks rolled into Terminal City, Alec was already a dead weight in the arms of Coy, the tall and lean transgenic who had accompanied him into the sewers, and who was now placing him down in front of Ames White before straightening up to his full height. The familiar stared down on X5-494 for a second, then scrutinized his unknown opponent, waiting for him to start the conversation.

Coy couldn't help but fidget, for the man and his cult gave him the creeps. But it was all part of the plan. The whole deal he had with this man was helping him in getting rid of two of his biggest problems at once, right?

Right?

Coy faced the other man, his black eyes never once breaking contact with the familiar's unreadable counterparts.

"Well, as you can hereby see, I fulfilled our contract, and I expect you to fulfill it as well. Would you please be so kind to repeat I have your word that you are not going to terminate X5-494, but keep him locked up and guarded well at all times, and that you will no longer continue setting out to find and eliminate X5-452 as I myself have sworn to you that I will do everything within my power to ensure that the aforementioned X5 will not be able to save those known as ordinary humans, and that I will shoot her myself if this should become necessary."

He was a little put off by Ames White actually grinning at him then, but forced himself to ignore it, because the man was not _able_ to break the contract.

There was no reason he should feel as uneasy as he did.

No reason whatsoever…

White cleared his throat. A light frown had appeared on his brow at Coy's words, despite the wide grin that looked like a caricature of a pleasant smile on his face, but his voice was firm and confident when he answered.

"Of course," he said, tilting his head a little, trying to look beyond the blackness of the creature's disgustingly black eyes. Abominable, to create something looking as close to a human being as this creature here, with such unnatural eyes, he thought, wondering what reason Manticore might have had for creating it. But this shouldn't worry him now.

"494 will think 452 is dead?" he inquired, his tone casual, but Coy could hear the menacing undertone in it as well.

"It was what we had agreed on I should make him believe, if I am not mistaken. Of course I fulfilled that part of our contract as well."

"Good," White said, the cold smile never leaving his face. "And now get out of my sight. Go back to your little freak friends," he scoffed, waving the guy away.

"This I will," Coy affirmed, much to White's surprise. The familiar hadn't honestly expected an answer. He merely shrugged and let the creature go, already flipping his cell phone open to get someone to attend to the unconscious 494 down at his feet. This scrawny creature that had brought him here surely had more strength in him than White had assumed, if 494 had still not regained consciousness.

Interesting.

* * *

"Well, that did _not_ go according to plan…" Coy mutters, unaware of the fact that Mole is still right beside him. He shakes his head in frustration over his failure. He seems to mess everything up this time, too. He can never once make it work out correctly. But why? What is his mistake? There has to be some important factor he is missing.

Coy is startled out of his musings by the ever scowling lizard-man suddenly grabbing him, and he scolds himself for having forgotten to pay attention to the other ones present.

Right then, he sees Max reenter Command with a well-practiced confident stride that does not give away what might have transpired in her talk with Alec.

What Coy and the rest at Command can also not see is how worried and confused she actually is. Thank god for Manticore, she thinks, it did teach her a few useful things, and the ability to hold back all emotions comes in handy often enough.

Her sarcasm nearly makes Max wince.

Now, how best to play down Alec's weird behavior, she wonders, racking her tired brain for a good explanation. But right then she notices that Mole has apparently grabbed Coy in something dangerously close to a choke-hold and is holding the guy pressed against the wall, grumbling at something the lean transgenic has obviously just said.

Great. Not this, too.

"Mole!" she barks out, blurring forward and pushing Coy out of harm's way, not an easy task considering that it involves loosening Mole's tight grip on the poor guy. "What's going on he–"

But Mole doesn't give her a chance to complete her question and already snarls out a response. "You seen Alec's face? – And I just heard this guy mumbling to himself about something not going according to PLAN… Always thought there was something off about this little shit here," he stares hard at Max for a moment, then returns his gaze to the man behind her, at least not trying to get back at Coy again.

"I honestly – I do not think –" Coy stutters out, eyeing Mole, then deciding that the safer option is to address his words to Max. "Please, Max, you know me, I could never harm anyone."

She realizes she's still holding onto his arm and as soon as she does, she lets go instantly. Yeah, she does know him, although – coming to think of it – she can't seem to remember how she first met him, and where. Here, in Terminal City? Or somewhere else maybe? His imploring black eyes flit between Mole's face and her own, even traveling over the other ones in the room for a short while.

"So?" she asks, crosses her arms in front of her, and takes a step back. Innocent, unless proven otherwise, right? Poor guy, Mole _can_ be quite threatening sometimes… She scrutinizes both of them before turning to the others behind her. "Is anyone gonna tell me what this is all about?"

"We thought _you_ were, Max," Dix cuts in, coming forward. "Alec seemed more than slightly shocked at seeing this dude here. We kinda assumed you'd be able to tell us what that was all about…"

"Uh," Max is a little stunned at this prompt retort, and a little lost for words, "I… Alec… he just overreacted, I guess, you guys know how many times he's been out there dealing with freaked out ordinaries lately, so…"

"Exactly," Coy butts in and nods his head vigorously, emphasizing the truth of her words. "Alec's surely disconcerting behavior is merely a result of the stress he has been under in the last weeks. I am in no way responsible for it, although of course I do understand that my somewhat unusual appearance does sometimes trigger strong reactions. But this is in no way a reason for concern, and let me assure you all that I am a perfectly harmless transgenic. Let me disclose the nature of my being to you – "

"Talk some sense, dude!" Mole mutters, face set in a stern look And despite cautioning him by whispering his name, Max has to admit that he is right. Coy's stilted way of speaking annoys the hell out of her, too, right now.

Coy pouts indignantly, the expression lending his features a much more feminine air.

"As you wish," he says, sounding very affronted, "I did not deem it necessary before, as none of you questioned me about it, but in order to show you that I pose no threat whatsoever I will now tell you that I am not a soldier; I am not fit to hurt anyone seriously as I have never undergone military training. I _have_ been part of what most of you refer to as Special-Ops, though."

Max hears Mole inhale deeply beside her, just as she herself hisses out a long held breath. Special-Ops.

She definitely needs to talk to Alec…

"Please let me finish. I have never been trained for any actual missions, have never taken part in any Psy-Ops related activities for I have been considered an anomaly very early on."

At his last words complete silence sets in, no one daring to say anything. Only too well do they all know the implications behind this statement.

"Why?" Max eventually dares to ask, her voice gentle now, understanding.

She hasn't forgotten how anomalies scared her, hasn't forgotten how bad they were treated… Had Coy been down there, too? In one of the cold cells, with no one for company but his own thoughts and the cries of the others?

"I," Coy falters, stares at her pleadingly, and she touches his arm again, offering what little reassurance she can. He is Special-Ops after all, and she's never quite gotten around to actually trust any of them so far, not even Mia with her opportunistic but mostly harmless little manipulations…

"Don't make me talk about it," he whispers, hardly audible, and looks her in the eyes, then Mole, Dix, Luke… "Please understand that I do not wish to relive…"

"It's alright," Max suddenly bursts out, surprising herself by how fast she acquiesced to his plea.

"So, back to what we have actually come here for today," she says, changing the topic rather abruptly without anyone complaining…

There is only one second in which she realizes this as odd, but then the moment is gone.

"Yes, well, that brings me back to my mentioning the plan earlier," Coy says, hardly able to disguise his triumph at having succeeded in drawing their attention off of him, and even being so smart to think of incorporating his previous lapse as cleverly as this. "I had planned to tell _all_ of you about this, but – well, as Alec is not here with us any longer and this is a somewhat urgent matter, I will say it now, nevertheless: as a matter of fact I know that the government will strike a military attack on Terminal City very soon, probably even today."

"What?"

"Where'd you get that information?"

"Today?!"

"Holy shit."

"Okay; quiet guys! – Coy, you certain that the intel is coming from a trustworthy source?"

"Yes, I can answer that in the affirmative."

Max stares at him for a second, into the black shining globes of his eyes, then turns toward Mole. He understands her wordlessly and nods before running off, already barking out orders.

Alec.

Her frigging sense of foreboding…

* * *

This time, Coy at least _knows_ that she is not only attached to X5-494 more than is good for her, but also to this whole circus of Manticore creations. He won't make that mistake again, then…

And what to do about his other problem, well, he would have to think about that…

* * *

On the day an army of dark-clad soldiers invaded Terminal City, Coy propped the now half-conscious Alec up against a wall, down in the darkness of the sewers, and felt the X5's hands grip him painfully tightly. The guy was a great soldier, Coy had to give him that. But it wouldn't help him now.

"No need to fight me. Stop it. I will not hurt you. Alec. Stop," he ordered, losing patience with the still not acquiescing man in front of him.

Then he began scrutinizing him, locked his black eyes with Alec's restlessly shifting counterparts, saw him give in eventually, drift off, away, and suddenly he went all quiet.

Started to fight it again so suddenly that Coy fell back in surprise and got a little annoyed with X5-494. Didn't the man know it was futile to try and do this?

"Sssh, Alec, you'll only make it worse. I am sorry I have to do this to you, but I am bound to a contract, and I promised to fulfill what they asked of me. I am truly sorry, more so than you will ever know, and it hurts my heart that I will have to make you suffer…" he murmured, only half addressing his victim.

The victim that still refused to be one.

Alec's legs kicked out underneath him, hurting Coy, as did the arms still gripping him, but he didn't so much as flinch and concentrated on the task at hand.

The image of Max, smiling at Alec.

Max, on the day of her death.

The torture. Hers and his, in color, with all possible feelings included.

Pain was not the worst…

Max's screams going on and on and on inside his head.

Max, dying. Dead. Her neck snapped by Alec.

Oh, Coy liked the irony of this. Lucky for him Max would never find this out.

Eventually, he let go of the X5, and the poor guy sank down to the ground instantly. "Sorry, 494," Coy said, and he meant it. But he had tried out other versions before which had not worked out at all. He simply couldn't make one or the other of them fall out of their stupid love. It had never worked. So he had opted for the nastier solution to the problem. It was Alec's fault, really. Right?

With that, Coy got up, paused a few minutes to regain some strength, than hoisted the unconscious man up onto his shoulders and made to leave the tunnel.

* * *

Alec saw Max. Hitting him on the head for one thing or the other.

"Don't believe everything they tell you, smart-Alec, or you'll never make it in the world out there. Didn't they teach you _anything_ back at Manticore?! God. What would you do without me always saving your stupid ass, huh?"

* * *

_Sorry, this took forever. Thanks for reading this buggering chapter_


	6. Six

**Coyote: Six**

Alec lies on the ground, only his feet visible from where Logan stands, and curses loudly, much to the ordinary's relief. His transgenic friend has been so uncharacteristically quiet since his arrival at his place that he is glad to hear him speak now, even if the words can't exactly be called pleasing to the ear.

"Fucking hell! Why the fuck doesn't this frigging thing work? It's – shit, Logan, this is not working! FUCK! You probably got it wrong or something, you _sure_ it's the right cables I'm desperately trying to stick into this monster here? 'Cause it's – I repeat it for your poor underdeveloped ears – NOT WORKING!"

Alec emerges from underneath the desk on which they'd set up the processor he and Max had retrieved a couple days ago, still swearing underneath his breath, while Logan chuckles lightly.

"What's so funny," Alec says. It's not a question.

"Sorry, man, but, geez, I was close to forgetting what your voice sounds like; you hardly said one word to me since you practically stormed into the house…" Logan swallows the rest of his sentence when he sees that Alec still isn't smiling, and raises an eyebrow.

Awkward, he thinks, he and the X5 are trying their best with this little friendship thing they got going, but so far this has predominantly meant light talk, a few beers, a bit of teasing – and the latter mostly coming from Alec, too. Of course. But something in his friend's behavior tells Logan that he can't resort to that now; well, maybe he _should_ get the beer out of the fridge, though.

"Uh. How about we give it a break here, huh?" he suggests, already on his way to the little kitchen. "I'll get us something to drink, alright? Is beer okay with you?"

"What, I don't get the 'pre-Pulse Chardonnay?' You and Max drank _every_ single one of your precious bottles of wine?" Logan hears Alec call out as he opens his well stocked fridge and gets out two bottles of beer. He smiles a slightly bitter smile, glad that the other one can't see it.

"Oh, I could offer you a glass of Bordeaux if that would also do?" he then deadpans and hears Alec laugh. But when he returns to the other room, where Alec has already slouched down on the old couch that still remains from when this had been Joshua's place, he notices that the transgenic is already deep in thought again – and obviously none too pleasing thoughts at that, too. Logan grimaces; he has never really had to deal with a brooding Alec before, the guy hardly ever allows himself to be seen any other way, but happy and smiling.

And the few times he hadn't been his usual laid-back self, there had always been Max to deal with it. Logan isn't too good at transgenic pep talk, his experiences with Max have taught him as much, if nothing else.

Not even to let her go entirely, in spite of his honest love for Asha.

"It's never gonna work, Logan," the other one suddenly startles him out of his thoughts, "Not even with your specially requested super-duper government-property processor. Seriously."

When Logan finally sits down himself and hands Alec a bottle, his friend takes it, but doesn't move to drink.

"This day… – Honestly, man, I should have never gotten up in the first place."

"What, so bad?" Uh oh. Dangerous territory looming ahead, and Logan feels the ground underneath his words get slippery. It is so easy to get a transgenic to lose their temper, not only if transgenic translates into Max, or Mole. Nope. Logan clearly remembers the first time he actually ever saw Alec lose control over himself and, damn, he doesn't want to be grabbed in a chokehold without warning sometime soon. _Any_time, actually…

Alec winces at Logan's question, probably already mad at himself for having opened his mouth in the first place. When Logan can no longer stand the ensuing silence that seems to stretch on and on eternally and makes him feel extremely uneasy, he decides to risk talking again, for somehow a mad Alec seems to be preferable to this brooding alternative.

"Not that it is any of my business, but you and Max…"

"We're just peachy, Log," Alec bursts out slightly too quickly and nearly jumps up from the couch again. "I better try to figure this processor bitch out now, if this fucking alarm is supposed to work anytime soon." He sets his still unopened bottle down onto the table and leaves Logan with not much choice but to follow him.

The ordinary's exoskeleton whirrs loudly and annoyingly by this time, which is a sure sign it's high time for Logan to change into his wheel chair, and he says as much to Alec before leaving and strapping the thing off.

From inside his room he feels safe enough to ask what he hasn't dared say beforehand, "So I guess you are not going to tell me what is bothering you – apart from the computer, that is. Am I right?"

He imagines the X5 sighing heavily, but of course he can't hear it through the walls. His sense of hearing is not in any way enhanced, after all, just good old grandma Cale's genes giving him hope to never turn deaf entirely in old age…

"Alec?"

"Dammit, Logan, you're worse than _she_ is. What is it with you guys and your stupid belief it might help to talk about things although you never seem to adhere to your own frigging principle, huh? Honestly…"

"I'm sorry," Logan apologizes, returning to the living room, "I was only trying to, you know, ease the tension a bit?" He sees Alec staring down at him, a strangely haunted look on his face that he doesn't even try to hide.

"Well, thanks for that. – I guess. But, I'm not… I…" Alec actually falters, and Logan realizes that it kind of shocks him. Hastily, he tries to save his friend from the awkwardness by cutting in:

"Yeah, well, never mind then. – Uh, actually… – did I tell you the _white_ cable should probably go in the contact at the back of the thing and the –"

Right when Alec shoots him a truly evil glare, the X's cell phone rings and saves Logan from being murdered in cold blood right here and now. He can't help but grin widely.

* * *

Ames White stood in the doorframe, the light behind him a solid wall, and cocked his head looking down at the transgenic sitting with his back against the cold concrete wall of his tiny cell, both arms chained to it a little above his drooping head.

"See what the dog brought in," he said cockily and entered the room to nudge the X5 with his boot. He didn't look up at all, not even when White resorted to actual kicks. But that was no reason for him to get mad. No, actually, seeing 494 as devastated as this made the whole plan even more enjoyable than it would otherwise have been. Good decision to agree to that weird other transgenic's offered contract, although Ames did have the odd feeling the "thing" had honestly thought he would feel obliged to fulfill his part as well.

Too bad for the creature, but he had absolutely no intention whatsoever to do so.

Admittedly, there had been a few strange moments in which he had felt himself falter when staring the creature right into its unnaturally black eyes. But the feeling had vanished as soon as he'd reminded himself of what he was looking at there: just another freak those idiots at Manticore had created, adding one more superfluous specimen to their ridiculous little zoo.

Like the one right in front of him now, he thought, and took another step back, leaning lightly against the doorframe.

"Well, well, 494, still mourning over your loss?"

When the X5 still didn't show any reaction, White turned to the familiar waiting outside in the hallway and nodded for him to proceed on to the next part of the plan.

The man nodded back in mute understanding, then walked past him into the cell, bent down over the transgenic, and unlocked both chains. The transgenic slumped forward when his arms fell down numbly at his sides. Well, that happened after being chained to a wall for well on seven days, but Ames had feared 494 could otherwise have spoilt his little plan by somehow managing to kill himself. And that would have been absolutely intolerable.

It had been hard enough to give 452 some time to settle wherever she had found a hiding place for the remains of her luckily decimated TC brood. But that had been necessary, too, or else 494 might never be able to locate her, the result of which Ames could picture all too clearly in his mind…

He shook off the uneasy feeling that had washed over him at the thought, and grinned at the prospect of witnessing what was still to come.

* * *

Max had flipped her cell open and speed-dialed Alec's number what felt like an eternity ago. Impatiently tapping her foot, she waits for him to finally answer her call, when she finally hears him drawl out her name in response. She doesn't even give him the chance to ask why she called.

"Where're you at, Alec? I need you here asap."

"Wait," Alec tries to insert, but she simply continues talking. No time for elaborate explanations now.

"Get your ass over here, _now_, Alec. C–" she cuts herself short at the last second, before Coy's name can slip out and threaten to make things more difficult than they already are.

"One of us overheard some officials talk about the government's plan to strike a military attack on TC TODAY, and now we really need to get a grand-style evacuation under way and there's practically no time left for it…"

"FUCK! – I'm on my way, Max."

He has already put his cell away from his ear, and she can hear someone else's voice in the background. Assuming that he is over at Joshua's, she shouts into her cell to prevent him from hanging up on her just yet, "Alec!"

"Ya?"

"You over at Josh's place? Can – can I talk to the big fella real quick? I need to tell him to –"

"Um, Max," Alec suddenly interrupts her, and she knows he's going to say the one thing she really doesn't want to hear now. She isn't sure how she knows it, but she does. She grabs her cell phone tighter, presses it to her ear until it hurts and forces herself to breathe in deeply in order to ease off the tension in her body.

It's not working, and it has nothing to do with Coy's terrifying piece of news.

"I'm at _Logan's_ actually…"

This time, at least, she knows where he is, she tells herself. She knows he's not alone…

_This_ time?

* * *

On the day of the attack – on the day of Alec's disappearance, Max could see his face split into a wide smirk, could see a smartass comment coming just as usual…

In her mind.

Alec. She had such a clear picture of him in her mind, but seeing this picture now, when bombs were falling down on Terminal City like horrendously distorted rain, didn't give her the comfort she'd have needed to go on, on through the wreckage on the ground, past mutilated bodies of people she once knew, and those she had never seen before when they were still whole. She would forever have to picture them broken like that, lying there, lifeless and hardly identifiable, for she had no other images of them to replace those she saw here.

Their situation was so hopeless, she was right in the middle of a brutal assault with a stranger right by her side, and no knowledge of Alec's whereabouts. She had no clue whether he had reached the sewers by the time the bombardment started and whether he was safe wherever he was at the moment. She didn't even know if he could ever _be_ safe; anywhere.

Not to speak of all the others, Joshua, the guys at Command, Gem and her baby, Dalton, the kids she had helped on the first day after Manticore's downfall…

Her eyes discerned a severed, blackened – or maybe just black? – leg poking out of a pile of debris and she couldn't avert her gaze until she felt someone grab her arm and forcefully pull her away.

"Max."

She blinked at the sound of her name and turned to face her companion, Coy, and noticed the pleading look in those seas of darkness that were his eyes. She saw the shock, the incomprehension, and felt a searing pain run up to her shoulder when he tugged at her sleeve in an effort to urge her on. Only then did Max remember that she had been shot. She touched the spot where warm and sticky blood had soaked into her clothes and the ensuing stinging sensation helped clear her mind again, eventually.

Coy needed her to be strong right now, whoever was still alive in Terminal City needed her to be strong.

And Alec did, wherever he was…

There was always hope.

* * *

"You sure you don't want me to contact some of my _Eyes Only_ informants to back up the rumors? Maybe an evacuation is a bit of a rash decision, it could very well be that there isn't even an assault planned. I mean, what about those talks with the negotiators and the government emissaries' visits to TC last week? Alec."

Logan has rolled his wheelchair as close as possible to the manhole leading down into the sewers, thus shielding his descending friend from the eyes of any curious passersby, as it is still broad daylight. But the X5 merely tilts his head as if to say 'Are you kidding me?' and continues to climb down.

"Alright, okay. But – make sure you get to Max right away, make –" he bites down on the inner side of his lip and winces slightly as he sees Alec's face one last time before the darkness swallows it.

"Make sure she's safe?" the transgenic finishes his sentence for him and smirks pretty convincingly. He can't fool Logan, though, the ordinary is quite aware of the tension building up between them whenever their shared love for Max surfaces in their conversations. Alec may not know it, but Logan would say the guy is jealous of him, of the ordinary, the _not exactly qualifying as Max's "ex"_ ordinary, to boot.

Logan grins involuntarily, for a moment forgetting the gravity of the situation they suddenly found themselves in when Max had called.

"I'll try my best, buddy, alright? Just you do that little thing with your computer, hack into those hover drones and make them send out that warning now, okay? See ya."

Logan nods dumbly, although Alec can no longer see him from down there, and he whispers out a forlorn "Take care," that even Alec with his enhanced hearing will no longer be able to hear.

He has already run off, and Logan, staring down into the empty hole before closing it again, sighs wearily.

* * *

He has to find him, has to make sure that everything goes according to plan from now on, as time is eventually running out. His heart is hammering like a drum inside his chest, threatening to break through its frail cage, but he has to run on.

This time, everything is different; finally, he has understood it all, and so it must play out the way he has planned it.

He knows that Alec is on his way to meet Max. And Max is waiting for him, stolidly, she hadn't even budged when he had tried to persuade her to leave Command and do something else to help with the evacuation. But her mind had been so set on supervising everything from that place, and when that stupid human had called to let her know about those hover things he had manipulated and had further mentioned that Alec was intending to meet Max at Command, he had had no chance at all.

He should be happy, really, that the man called, because what he did will help immensely with the whole evacuation, as all of Terminal City's inhabitants can now be warned nearly at once and can help with the evacuation by organizing themselves.

Lucky, too, that they are all trained soldiers. Or, well, nearly all. Enough of them, anyways…

It is all working out just fine this time. Too good to be true…

And still he can't help but feel sadness creep up inside him, utter, desperate sadness.

This is the new aspect in all this.

He was never supposed to feel sad about saving people…

Right then, he sees Alec run in his direction and he calls him, making the other stop in his tracks, and tense.

The transgenic tilts his head and scrutinizes his opponent from a distance before slowly advancing toward him.

"I am pleased beyond words to find you in this maze down here eventually, for I promised Max to accompany you back to Command, where she is desperately awaiting your return."

Alec smirks involuntarily, quickly checking himself, and restoring the look of suspicion on his face. "Really?" he asks, raising an eyebrow, "Interesting choice of words. – But I can find my way without your help, thanks."

"Um – but Max –"

"I said I can find my way _alone_. Got that? Now go back to whatever hole you emerged from in the first place!"

Coy looks at him in bewilderment and places a hand over his still fast beating heart. Why is Alec reacting like that? Why can't Coy shake off the odd feeling that the X5 remembers something?

He is behaving strangely similar to the way Max is, too. Come to think of it, her last remark to him before he offered to go look for Alec should probably have made him a trifle more suspicious.

"I know where he is… he's with Logan," she'd said – or rather muttered to herself, "and he's getting back here via the sewers. He'll be safe this time. I only have to wait here, he'll be safe…"

And then Mole had talked to her via the intercom, and Coy had slipped out of Command soundlessly, leaving her to supervise. He hadn't even paid much attention to her words, had not heard what he heard in them now, the undercurrent of a half-hidden knowledge resurfacing, the anticipation of something looming ahead she is now desperately trying to ward off by waiting there for her love to return…

Oh, she doesn't know that the feared thing won't happen this time, that it _can't_ happen… Poor beloved creature that she is…

* * *

White insisted on placing the bowl of food in front of the weak and drawn looking transgenic himself, the X5 too weak to pose much of a threat despite the strength surely still slumbering somewhere inside of him. He squatted down in front of 494 and took in his whole form, even stretching out a hand and swiping a strand of hair out of his young face, before he got up again and walked back to the door.

"You should eat that, 494, you will need all the strength you can muster if you want to get out of this place again. – Why would you want that, huh? What with 452 dead and gone… - But, news flash 494: all of that never happened."

While Ames retrieved a small camera from one of his pockets, he was aware that the X5 had stirred at his last words for the first time. So he was no longer unconscious. Good. Ames flicked open the camera, pressed a button and placed it down on the ground so that his captive had a chance to see what it showed him.

"_This is Kelly Jones, reporting live for KBBW from the site of the attack on Terminal City! I repeat, Terminal City, the nuclear wasteland in the midst of our city annexed by the freaks a couple of months ago, is being attacked by the US military at this very mo–"_

"Poor woman never even got to finish her sentence," the familiar said and took the camera away again now that he had 494's attention. For one bizarre moment he couldn't help sympathizing with him, but then the moment was gone.

"See, unfortunately I have to tell you that the memories replaying themselves in your head were placed there at my request. They are fake, 494; I could say I'm sorry, but we both know that I'm not, and actually, this is quite entertaining, to be honest." The X's eyes widened, but he didn't say one word. Possessed a true talent for composure, this one, Ames had to give him that much.

"Well, if what I learned from your little Manticore record states the truth, you seem to have quite a bit of experience with that sort of manipulations, right? Be that as it may, the good news doesn't end with the little assault on the refuge of those circus attractions you call friends. No, the best is yet to come."

He leaned into the room and whispered conspiratorially, "You better listen closely now: 452 is _not_ dead, she is hiding somewhere with however few of you freaks survived along with her, and I'm sure she thinks you have left her just like everyone else in her life has left her before."

He put on a look of mock sadness and regret, then, with 494's eyes never leaving him, he continued, "I thought you'd like to know that, because I am quite close to detecting her little hideout, and it won't be long now until your memory of her violent death at my hands represents the truth."

With that said, Ames got up again, leaving the X5 to wrap his mind around all he had just heard, and locked the door securely. A grin spread on his face.

The game could begin. 494 would soon start to pry the door open to get back to 452 and the rest of their pathetic brood.

And White would be there to watch his progress through the camera in the ceiling.

He would be there to follow 494 when he set out to find his mate.

Oh, he was so predictable…

* * *

Coy looks down to his feet for a second, stares past them to the rotten ground of the tunnel and imagines to see a tiny trail of blood. A trick of his memory. He grins lopsidedly; now his own mind is playing tricks on _him_?

Then he looks up again, right into Alec's face, their gazes lock, and Coy says:

"So there are things you remember."

"Things?!" the transgenic in front of him hisses out with as much venom as he can probably put into a short word like that. "I wouldn't call it 'things.' – What the fuck _are_ you?"

* * *

_One more to come tomorrow…_


	7. Seven

_So let's get this over with now, huh?…_

* * *

**Coyote: Seven**

The day Alec returns to Max is the day Coy eventually understands everything.

What are you… Coy could very definitely ask himself the same question. Of course he _knows_ what he is, and he knows all the lore spread about him – one version or the other. But he has allowed himself quite a few lapses of judgment lately that do leave him to wonder what he might have been thinking.

Making a deal with a man like Ames White? Despite the great disguise of a name like that, Coy should have known right from the start that the man resembles a true devil more than a bit, as he does know a lot about walking in guises himself, right? But no, he was too occupied with his own surprising new experience of true love focused on just one individual. Falling for your target is not exactly included in a well planned mission.

Oh. Mission.

Apparently he has spent too much time among those creatures called transgenics by now, among creatures he has eventually learned to appreciate as what they are. Beautiful, wonderful creations, like the humans he had actually set out to safe…

They are just as perfect as all other beings…

* * *

"Alright, Max. Terminal City is cleared. I repeat: TC is cleared. We got them all out safely," Mole's voice can be heard rumbling through the intercom.

"Roger that." Max exhales slowly and allows herself to sit down on her desk for a minute. She lets her head droop and breathes in and out frantically in an effort to keep the tears at bay that are threatening to well up in her eyes.

Okay. She can do this. It's not so bad now, the whole situation; it's great actually. With practically no time left they managed to get everyone out of the city safely, and she tells herself to remember to thank Logan for his part in all this later, majorly. His hover drone hacks had really done the trick, without those things blurting out an alarm coded by Alec they would have never managed to accomplish such a quick evacuation.

Of course, evacuating TC has only been the start, and they will have to make more elaborate plans about what to do now, where to go, and whether to eventually establish another city for themselves somewhere. But at the moment the only thing that counts is that they all got out in time, and had scattered and gone to ground just like they had been taught to do back at Manticore.

Well, another thing that comes in handy in a world like this is their military training…

Max wipes a hand across her damp forehead, noticing that her hair is plastered all over it, when the intercom blurts out again, this time talking with Joshua's voice.

"Little fella? – li- little fella?"

She smiles a small smile, the first tear having found its way down her cheek by now, and she has to wipe that away, too.

"I'm right here, big fella."

"Alec there, yet?"

She stares down at the intercom in her hand and wishes she wouldn't have to answer the question. She quickly scans the empty room they call Command, taking in the eerie silence emanating from every wall around her, and shakes her head as if her friend were here to see it.

"No." The word is so softly spoken that she is slightly astounded at getting a response.

"Don't worry, little fella, he will come."

"Josh," she can suddenly hear Mole interrupt the other one, reprimand surfacing in his tone, "Will ya stop encouraging our STUPIDLY AND UNNESSESSARILY RECKLESS CO!!" He basically shouts the last words into the com before seemingly handing it back to his friend.

Despite herself, Max chuckles. Her fingers trail the edge of her desk, while her eyes wander across the room once more.

"Uh… I – Mole, little fella, he…" the big guy stammers out, and just when she wants to tell him that Mole is right and she _should_ leave now, she sees him appear in the sunlit doorframe.

"Alec."

The intercom crackles, Joshua calls "Max? He there?" and she nods. "Is Alec there now, little fella?" Joshua rephrases his question, surely worried that his words got lost over the sizzling and crackling noises disturbing the connection, and this time she says, clearly intelligible: "Yes," before she puts the intercom down on the table, too close to the edge so that it falls to the ground shatteringly, and runs toward him.

She doesn't see Coy's shadow emerging behind Alec, doesn't see it loom large against the opposite wall before it eventually shrinks down in size again, getting smaller and smaller until it vanishes completely.

"Max."

* * *

The day Alec returns to Max, a smile is spreading across Coy's face when he sees the two X5s embrace each other passionately, sees the female's hands cling to the male's back, sees them travel upward, up, up, until she loosens her grip, lifts one hand to his face to touch it.

Coy places a hand on his own cheek, trying to understand what it must feel like to be the other one. But he doesn't stay to watch them kiss. As happy a moment as this may be, his still fresh and blooming love for Max would make watching that moment too much of a painful experience.

His love for Max.

She won't ever know what she has taught him, and that is kind of sad in its own way. She has taught him so much, love for a people he hadn't cared about much, because he had thought that their creators should care for them. But Max had shown him that her people had to take care of themselves, that they were alone in this… Oh, what a shame.

As are the things he left for them to deal with, their recollections of events that – to others – never happened, but for them will remain more than real. He truly hopes that not too many memories will resurface, images he cannot take away again as they are all linked to the one thing both individuals do not allow themselves to forget – never, no matter how unbearable some of them may be. They cherish every single one, and desperately defend them against all of Coy's attempts at removal. He grimaces with the pain he caused these two.

The one thing… he shakes his head at himself.

The one _person_, of course.

He has too many of those persons, too many creatures – with legs or without, with fur, or scales… – who he will never allow himself to forget, too many he likes to tease, and play tricks on, and for whom he would do _anything_ to save them from harm…

… even resort to making a deal with a devil among humans, a man whose mind is set on eliminating nearly all of Coy's beloved human beings. And so he sacrificed the transgenic known as Alec in order to save Max.

Max, the transgenic that holds in her the power to save all human creatures, to help him with his task a little…

He was only trying to save them from extinction, and this time that had entailed keeping Ames White from killing Max. He is not the smartest, admittedly, and hence he had definitely believed sacrificing Alec would do the trick.

Of course he hadn't much liked the idea of sacrificing any living being, but that's why he had made sure Alec would not be killed, right? Coy honestly had thought that would suffice. Oh, he really is not the smartest, never was…

He hadn't considered that the human devil would play his own tricks.

He hadn't considered Alec to be one of the creatures he needed to protect…

And Max had shown him what a grave mistake that had been.

* * *

Coy had come up behind the unsuspecting familiar and lightly tapped him on the shoulder now. The man jumped and pointed a gun at him almost instantly.

But Coy merely raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and said: "I did not mean to scare you, Sir, and I do not intend to attack you, so would you please be kind enough to put your weapon down? I do not appreciate it very much to be pointed at with a firearm."

His words obviously startled the man enough to not shot him, which was a slight victory, considering. Coy knew everything about this evil man.

He stared hard into the human's eyes and said what he had come here for: "I would like to make what is so frequently called a 'deal' if I am not mistaken."

"Who the fuck are you, freak? You're lucky I haven't shot you, yet."

"This I am, and I thank you very much for your outspoken kindness. But please, listen to what I have to offer you: I would appreciate it very much if you would stop your chase for the transgenic known to you primarily as X5-452. I heard that you want to keep her from saving those human beings who are less strong and resilient than you and your specially bred friends are, and of course I do respect your personal interests in this matter."

Coy saw the other one scowl, but continued nonetheless. "And I hereby assure you that I will not let that happen. I will do everything within my humble power to prevent it from happening, and if I should feel I am no longer able to adhere to this promise, I will shoot her myself."

A little lie has never done much harm, Coy thinks, and fights down the smile playing across his lips at the thought.

He likes to play...

"Of course I understand that you will surely not refrain from eliminating her without me offering _you_ a favor in return, and I am here to let you _choose_ whichever of my talents you would like me to put to your use. For that purpose I will very briefly introduce my few modest abilities to you. – Well, for one, I can manipulate time."

White stared at him in disbelief at that and placed his finger on the trigger of his weapon again, clearly deciding where best to shoot him. Head? Heart?

"I see that you do not believe me," Coy stated the obvious, "therefore I will offer you my other talent more than willingly. I can also manipulate what people _remember_ by placing false memories in their minds. I can further…" Coy left the sentence hanging as he saw that his last trait had gotten White's attention.

Let the game begin, he thought, not noticing the human squint his eyes a little.

* * *

"Alec," Max eventually says, her voice sounding raspy and breathless, and he smirks.

"You already out of breath, and so quickly? But we haven't even _really_ got started, yet, Maxie," he says and earns himself a punch to the back of his head.

"Ow! – So I guess the attack on Terminal City has started, huh?" he jokes, somewhat tastelessly and earns himself another hit. He raises both arms in mock surrender and makes to step away from her, but right then she flings herself into his arms again and presses her cheek against his chest.

"Yeah, okay, I _know_ I didn't deserve to be hit like that, but, um – we all back to you acting weird and hugging me like I might drop dead any second now? 'Cause, you know, it _does _make me feel a bit awkward. – Max. Not reassuring, okay?"

And another hit. Just because she can. Because he's still here, alive and well. She smiles at him now, then suddenly looks at him, frowns, and chides him, "Don't you make tasteless jokes like that again, or it will be too late for you to experience a reassured feeling _ever_ again. And now let's leave this frigging ghost town and meet with Josh and the others before the bastards manage to actually succeed in killing a couple of stupid and reckless freaks…"

"Aw, Max, you said the magic C-word!" Alec teases, dodging another punch, then taking her hand in his, and walking alongside her out into the sun shining down on Seattle over their heads.

"Shut up, Alec, I was talking about a couple – as in _a few_, got that?" she backpedals, annoyance tingeing her voice.

"Yeah, course you were…"

* * *

The day Alec returns to Max is the day the tanks come; huge hostile monsters of steel that run over everything – _anything_ blocking their way, uncompromisingly, mercilessly. The fence goes down first, clearing the way for an army of hooded soldiers, dark figures, armed to their teeth, all firing volleys out of their machine guns without asking questions first.

This is enemy territory after all, and this is a war. The time for questions has long passed, the time for negotiations officially ended.

This is the end.

The day Alec returns to Max, soldiers come marching into Terminal City, and stop dead in their tracks shortly after the invasion started. Blinking rapidly, they face each other and shrug.

There is no one here except for themselves, the sun shining down on them kindly and warm, and there are more than a few among them breathing sighs of heartfelt relief.

* * *

"This is Kelly Jones, reporting live for KBBW from Terminal City. What you can see behind me is the deserted area that has come to be known as Freak Nation among many of you out there. And let me tell you one thing: I am glad – I repeat, _glad_, that the inhabitants of this part of our city have apparently not been as unsuspecting of the planned assault on TC scheduled for today as the government had reckoned they would be. These people are no monsters. They did not threaten us in _any_ way, and what was planned to happen here today would have resembled genocide. Look into your history books, dear viewers, and decide on whether you _really_ want to repeat the past…"

White stares hard at the screen of the TV, taking in the empty grounds behind that woman before smashing the glass with his remote.

The Conclave will never let him live this down. 452's whereabouts unknown _again_...

* * *

When Max opens her eyes and turns her head to the side she sees Alec's sleeping form, sees his head stick out underneath the covers, his hair tousled from turning so much in his previously uneasy sleep, and she is glad to learn that he eventually managed to fall into a less troubled one. She watches him breathe evenly, silently, sees the half moons of lashes underneath his closed eyes, and nuzzles her face to his, breathing in his scent and the warmth emanating from his body.

She loves these early hours, when he can sleep unperturbed and she can watch him in silence, waking him when the memories threaten to come back too forcefully.

They mostly come back at night, in his dreams, in her dreams. But she doesn't need as much sleep as he does, and she isn't sure his dreams, or memories, or whatever they are, are quite the same as hers.

They never really talk about them much, they do not dare.

She is sure she should remember something else when thinking back to the day of the exodus from Terminal City, but she can't quite grasp what that might be.

Or who.

Eventually, Alec stretches his limbs and opens his eyes, staring right into hers.

"Morning sleepy head," he mumbles, still not entirely awake, and puts a hand up to her face.

"Morning yourself." She smiles, and so does he.

A content little image of herself dances in his eyes, tinged brown and green, and beyond that something darker.

She sighs, and wonders what he sees in hers…

* * *

There are so many stories he squeezes himself into, so many tricks he has played – the outcome always surprising _him_ the most. There are so many guises he has put on, and he is known by many a name…

He was in _this_ story, too.

But he will no longer be.

* * *

_Thank you so much for reading. __See ya in the next one, maybe…_


End file.
